During the Miami Dolphins preseason, Jay Ajayi was the team starting running back on its depth chart. After a less than stellar preseason where Ajayi fumbled and dropped a pass in the team’s last preseason game against the Tennessee Titans, he was demoted in the Dolphins depth chart.
Ajayi has now gone from being in inactive in the Dolphins season opener at Seattle to being named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week. The league officially announced Ajayi as this week’s offensive player of the week in the AFC on Wednesday morning. He received the honor after his superb performance in the Dolphins 30-15 upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday.
Ajayi said he felt great being named AFC Offensive Player of the Week
“It’s huge, Ajayi said. I found out today (Wednesday) in the team meeting. “It’s a great feeling and at the same time, I don’t want to get too caught up on it. Credit to the offensive line and the receivers blocking for me. “
Ajayi rushed for a career-high 204 and two touchdowns on 25 carries. His previous high in a game was 48 yards on six carries against the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015.
In Week 1, Ajayi was in Dolphins head coach Adam Gase’s doghouse because of the way he handled himself after the team announced Arian Foster was going to be their starting running back. Gase made Ajayi inactive and left him back in South Florida as the Dolphins traveled to Seattle.
All season, the Dolphins have been searching for answers in their running game. The team was 31st in the NFL in rushing coming into their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. After Ajayi’s performance on Sunday, it appears the Dolphins have found their solution at running back.
It also helped that the Dolphins finally had all of their starting offensive linemen healthy. Tackle Branden Albert, guard/tackle Laremy Tunsil and center Mike Pouncey have all missed games this season due to injury. Getting those three players back should help the team’s offensive line going forward.
Even with his amazing performance last Sunday, Ajayi still believes he has a lot to prove in the league.
“I think I have a lot to prove, not only to myself to a lot of people, Ajayi said. “As you’ve seen, I’ve down a lot better, but I want to keep pushing forward because I know I can do a lot more.”
Twitter: @antwanstaley
