Good news for Ajayi owners!

[Phaded]

He's having a good game. Most RB's have at one time or another. I don't really think this changes anything. The truthers are going to beat their chests, and the nay sayers are going to say it's a fluke.

Yeah it's hard to read too much into one game when things happen for any player who was not performing like that prior.

I don't expect people to start screaming "go pick up Case Keenum" for example.

[1standgoal]

SEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

[Plank]

Some really hard running this afternoon, it was great to see ... he must not like the Steelers much.

[Phaded]

SEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

You mean he isn't going to get 200 yards a week?

[ninotoreS]

- Outside-zone run-plays destroyed Pittsburgh today. Repeatedly dominated on the outside, not so much by Ajayi himself but by Miami's previously hapless O-line.
- Ajayi showed that he has enough speed to breakaway at the NFL level. It's not elite, but it's fast enough. Before this game I wasn't sure.
- Ajayi also had a few carries where he showed nice YAC ability. He showed he can push a pile at this level.
- He was at 24-140-1 before the 60 yard scamper at the end of the game, so this wasn't just a fluky outlier-run statline.

All in all, I don't think Ajayi was quite as individually dominant as his stat-line suggests, but obviously one can't criticize the performance. I'm still not seeing truly special qualities on Ajayi's tape, but he is starting to show what he already showed in college: if you feed him enough, he'll produce and even wear down some defenses. He's a big guy with well above-average athleticism for his size/weight, and he can respectably workhorse.

I think Gase is just gonna have to give up on one of his RBs being both a good volume rusher and advanced passing-catching back. With the talent he has at his disposal, he can have one or the other, not both. Ajayi is his best option. Giving him 15-20 carries week will help open up the passing-offense and do more for ball-control. He won't always be good, but he can keep defenses more honest and do more for Miami's time of possession than Foster/Drake/Williams can.

[steelman]

Not taking anything away from Ajayi, but there's not a RB in the league that wouldn't have lit up the Steelers today. They were absolutely pathetic. The holes Ajayi ran through were absolutely huge and there was often no one around in the secondary to quickly bring him down. That was one of the worst run defences I've ever seen today.

[ninotoreS]

Yeah. On the outside-zone plays he was often running through space I'm only used to seeing on college tape.

[Ray Finkle]

Is Ajayi actually startable now or is his a fluke? I have not watched any of the game, but he has some good stats and does not look like its flukey. Pitt has a decent run d as far as I know.

Good question. Nearly half way through the fantasy season, I hope this backfield finally takes some shape after this. Would love to get a couple startable weeks out of Ajayi. What did Arian look like today!

[Dookmarriot]

Picked him up for a few buck a couple of weeks ago of the waiver wire. Happy to listen to offers now!

[ninotoreS]

I think Ajayi can be started as an RB2 next week. He dominated touches with Foster active, and not much of an argument can be made to scale him back coming off a week like this one.

Gase himself last week said that using too much of a committee at RB was 'bad coaching' on his part. First game MIami fully commits to one runner, and this happens. So I'm pretty sure they'll give it a whirl at least one more week with Ajayi, to see if it's real with him.

Also note Tannehill posted his best QBR of the year thus far today. Tanny didn't throw any TDs so he was a fantasy dud, but in real-football terms the rushing-offense's productivity plainly helped him out. Don't think Gase failed to notice.

[BuckeyeNation]

I don't care what the matchup was or what the situation is, if you have a RB in an unsettled backfield go off for 200+ yards....You feed him the ball the following week.

[jimmycricket14]

I think there are still PLENTY of questions around Ajayi's value/potential for the rest of this season and beyond but he ran the ball really hard today. I was really impressed by how he finished his runs and he looked like the type of back you would want to feature and feed the ball 20+ times a game to wear down a defense. I am starting to wonder if Gase is coming around to the idea that the Dolphins might be better off establishing a ground game than trying to feature the hapless Tannehill and the passing game. The next few weeks will be very interesting to see how the play calling and snap splits when Foster is fully healthy and practicing again. Hard not to be cautiously optimistic about Ajayi after how he looked today

[clarion contrarion]

I still think it was a fluke game , the steelers under tomlin are something like 12-15 now against <.300 W/L teams the last several years . They blow a couple games every season to horrific teams and it has cost them huge in the past . Forcing them to miss the playoffs a couple times costing division titles and home field advantage as well. He gets all this credit for being a good coach but they come out flat as pancakes and make dog crap teams and players look like they are bound for canton every year. For all his bluster and screeching and high fives he does a piss poor job of getting his team prepared for what should be walk over type opponents.
I do not think they have a shot at home vs. the patriots w/o ben but was less apprehensive about that game (prior to his injury) than this dolphins debacle because at least in games with the good teams at least the steelers SHOW UP.

[snitchinsider]

If people were going to pile on Ajayi up until this point when the line was so bad, then it only seems fair to me to give Ajayi heaps of praise for performing when the line dominates like they did last week.

Let's be consistent here.

Ajayi's problem is not and has never been talent. The line in Miami has been bad. I agree that he might be a good sell right now, but mostly because I don't expect Miami's line to continue to play well. That was, however, the first time this season they've had all five offensive line starters on the field at the same time. So there is certainly upside to that situation.

[snitchinsider]

I don't care what the matchup was or what the situation is, if you have a RB in an unsettled backfield go off for 200+ yards....You feed him the ball the following week.

Unless you're Jonas Gray, and then the Patriots bench you the very next week.