Fantasy Football: Start or Sit Andy Dalton in Week Eight?

I want to start off this piece by talking about a food allergy I have. I’m allergic to ginger. As a child, I ate a bunch of gingerbread cookies, threw up everywhere, and promptly abandoned the notion. It churns my stomach something fierce. I have to avoid it in sushi and in most other things, and I literally forgot it was in some kimchi. I had a couple bites of kimchi last week before I recognized that taste, and felt like I was going to die for about twelve hours. Yes, this is a fantasy football website and yes, this is a fantasy football article. It’s about starting Andy Dalton, the foremost expert in all things NFL and all things ginger. This week, even though there’s a definite possibility Dalton will have the same reaction I do to ginger (vomiting all over himself), he’s a great start against the flailing Indianapolis Colts.

Dalton’s season-long numbers are uninspiring, especially given that his eight interceptions already match his total for all of last year. However, let’s not forget the Cincy offense was so bad in the first couple of weeks that they fired their OC. Since then, Andy has four interceptions… still not great, but he also has nine touchdowns in four games passing. He struggled the last couple of weeks, but Dalton is one of the most matchup-dependent plays in the fantasy football landscape.

In his last two games, Dalton has three touchdowns and four interceptions. He also played the #3 ranked defense against quarterbacks (Buffalo) and the #2 ranked defense against QBs (Pittsburgh). In the first two games with a Lazor-focused offense, he had six TDs and no picks. Dalton isn’t a reliable quarterback to start, as he is prone to blowups. Just like I can have a little ginger, but I can’t eat it and reliably function like a normal human being.

Luckily, Dalton takes on a Colts defense that might as well not even be there (like my stomach enzymes designed to break down food). They gave up 22 fantasy points to Brian Hoyer (he’s since been benched). They yielded 25.08 fantasy points to DeShone Kizer (he’s since been benched… then unbenched). And they even gave up 330 passing yards to Blake freaking Bortles (he’s since been revealed as Blake Bortles). Dalton has a primo matchup this week, and despite my aversion to ginger, I’m firing him up wherever I can. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you, and make sure you wear rubber boots.

They’re easier to clean vomit from… just in case.