MIAMI, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Once upon a time, Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase left Jay Ajayi at home during the team's road trip because he was upset about losing the starting running back job.
500-plus yards in three games and an Arian Foster retirement later, Gase is saying that Ajayi is his guy. " He knows exactly how I want to call the game as far as I'm never going to go away from him," Gase said Sunday, after the Dolphins beat the New York Jets 27-23 for its third consecutive victory. "His job is to keep hammering it and wait until the fourth quarter. If teams can stay with him, and they can tackle him, then they're probably going to win the game."
Ajayi, 23, had 111 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries Sunday. He had 204 rushing yards and 214 rushing yards, respectively, in his two previous games. Ajayi's Week 7 performance put him in the record book with O.J. Simpson, Earl Campbell, and Ricky Williams as the only running backs to ever post back-to-back 200-yard rushing performances.
"[The Jets] showcased why they're the number one rush defense today," Ajayi said Sunday. [They] did a lot of good things and kind of getting good penetration here and there. But what we did on the sideline and talking with the o-line, we just kept it steady."
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"We knew we were going against a good challenge today," Ajayi said. "All credit to what they were able to do – not letting us get to 200 [yards] and all that, but I still think we had a good game on the ground, still tried to create creases. The o-line still did a good job of pushing penetration, and we were able to finish the game strong with a good four minute and seal the game."
On the season, Ajayi has 646 yards and six touchdowns on 108 carries.
Next week, Ajayi gets a San Diego Chargers defense allowing the second-most rushing touchdowns to running backs this season. The Dolphins and Chargers kickoff at 4:05 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 13 from Qualcomm Stadium.
