Fantasy Football: 5 Historical Vegas Trends You Should Know for Week 2

Resist the Raiders Defense

Avoiding a defense that gave up 34 points in the previous week seems like a no-brainer. However, the Oakland Raiders were drafted as a top-12 defense before the season started. They are still owned in 57% of Yahoo leagues.

While I think they have a chance to be a dependable fantasy defense later this season, I don't think it starts this weekend against the Atlanta Falcons. The Raiders opened as 7-point favorites on Pinnacle Sports but have since dropped to 4.5-point favorites. The total for the game has risen from 48 to 49.5 points. Other sportsbooks are showing totals at 50 or higher.

According to Team Rankings, since the start of 2015, Raiders games have gone over the total 77.8% (7-2-2) of the time in their non-division games. If this game exceeds the total of 49.5 points, odds are that neither defense will finish with a good fantasy day.

When you see line movement trending the wrong way for the spread and for the total, run far away. This game, like the game last week versus the Saints, could turn into a shootout.

The Raiders are tied for the ninth-most expensive defense of the week on FanDuel at $4,500 which is way overpriced for a defense that is unlikely to return a top-10 performance.