Jay Ajayi is the feature back the Dolphins have been waiting for

The Miami Dolphins have won their last two games, and in both of those games, running back Jay Ajayi has rushed for 200-plus yards and a touchdown. The second-year back out of Boise State has put the rest of the NFL on notice, especially by putting himself in the same company as Ricky Williams, Earl Campbell, and O.J. Simpson on Sunday.

Ajayi represents an actual, effective weapon for the Dolphins, a team sorely lacking in playmakers for the past few years. The Dolphins haven’t had a proper dynamo at running back since Reggie Bush was still kind of good in 2011 (the final year they had receiver Brandon Marshall, as well).

But while the Dolphins offense is moving through Ajayi rather than quarterback Ryan Tannehill, it begs the question: is it sustainable? As a rookie, Ajayi had just 187 rushing yards, and he put up just 117 yards in the first four weeks of this season. Ajayi was even a healthy scratch in Week 1, when head coach Adam Gase was unhappy with his performance and inability to win the starting job.

Could these last two games just be a flash in the pan?

Clearly the Dolphins have made some adjustments, because neither the Pittsburgh Steelers nor the Buffalo Bills have terrible run defenses. Gase said the team’s goal was to establish the running game early to help the defense and get everyone’s confidence up, including Ajayi’s.

“Jay just seems like he’s really a rhythm-type guy,” Gase said. “It might take a second sometimes for us to get some of these runs going but he’s popped a few earlier than I anticipated.”

Below we’re going to take a look at some of Ajayi’s runs on Sunday and what made them work.

Ajayi has benefited from solid offensive line play, but really, he just looks more like an NFL running back now more than ever. His cuts are silky smooth and while he’s not juking defenders out of their shoes, he runs with a confidence now that he didn’t appear to have before.

It’s the kind of determination that gives defenders pause. When he has the ball and he has yet to make a decision on when he’ll cut and where he’ll run to, the defense had to respect him enough to try the “wait and react” approach. It rarely worked out for them.

This is the first play from scrimmage of the game, and Ajayi sets the tone immediately. He’s aided by good blocking in a play that looks like it’s going to the left, but Ajayi makes a cut — just one — and it’s all one very fluid motion that allows him to turn what could have been a short gain into a first-down run.

Everybody on the line seals off their lane as well. Ajayi doesn’t get as many yards if half the Buffalo defense isn’t looking to the left where the Dolphins have set up the misdirection perfectly. But that takes nothing away from his own efforts.

Later in the first quarter, Ajayi has a similar run in which he makes a single cut and then turns upfield. What’s notable this time is the power of his blockers, particularly the one on the outside who creates the hole. Ajayi shows good vision and burst to get through the hole to pick up the first down and then some.

Again, it’s just competent, one-cut running. He follows his blockers, who are powerfully pushing the Bills players around, and he picks up a big gain early on.

There’s no such thing as a good running back who takes his eyes off the end zone. It’s all about one goal: Pay dirt. Ajayi has a singular focus when he’s running and it’s a simple one: get every single yard you can. Mediocre running backs get lost in their own movement, juking or spinning out of their own running lanes to avoid contact. The best running backs combine their evasiveness with forward momentum.

This play looks like it goes roughly about where the Dolphins expected it to go, but Ajayi has to avoid some early contact. Rather than sidestep and lose all his momentum, though, he builds it into his cut and keeps his eyes forward.

Ajayi is looking ahead while cutting, makes a slight adjustment to his left, and in the process follows good blocking for a 14-yard gain. Dragging a Bills player a few yards at the end of the play certainly helps his cause, too.

Ajayi’s biggest plays on the day featured a solid cut, good blocking from his offensive line, impeccable vision, and ... maybe a little help from the Bills. These plays did have breakdowns on the defensive side, but they wouldn’t have occurred if the Dolphins and Ajayi himself weren’t also forcing them to do so.

But that’s a large part of what makes for a successful rushing attack: beating down the other team and baiting them into making mistakes.

“I think it’s a great job by those guys up front, opening up holes,” Gase said. “And then he’s done a great job of being decisive, hitting it and just getting every inch he can.”

On this play, it looks like it’s supposed to be more of an inside run to the left side, but the way it breaks down has the Dolphins mauling guys and setting up a lane through the right tackle. Ajayi has only one person to worry about at the start of his play and he, again, designs his cut around it.

Buffalo’s linebackers were perhaps a little slow on the uptake here, however. They don’t start properly pursuing Ajayi until it’s clear he’s going to pick up the first down. That definitely helped him pick up more yards in the end, well past the first-down marker.

It’s the start of the fourth quarter and Ajayi has already gashed the Bills for several gains of around 10 yards. They’re tired, but they have the Dolphins deep in their own territory and well ... that can be dangerous for both teams.

Here, Ajayi showcases great vision to make it through the initial group of players, shows off his smooth running and strength to shove off a would-be tackler and then he’s off to the races. He’s not the fastest back and he himself was likely tired at this point, later leaving the game briefly with cramps.

Maybe it’s not a huge gain if two Bills players don’t collide with one another as Ajayi shrugs one of them off. But it’s still a significant gain at a crucial time in the game. All the aspects above combined for this 53-yard run, his longest of the day.

Ajayi looked like a competent feature back on Sunday, and that’s even more important than just having a big game.

Gase wouldn’t commit to Ajayi as the starter of the future, but he stated clearly that Ajayi has “done exactly what we’ve needed him to do.”

The Dolphins didn’t open the widest lanes for him, but he found them. The Bills didn’t completely collapse on defense of their own volition, but he made them. There wasn’t a massive threat from Ryan Tannehill in the passing game to distract them.

It was a stellar performance from Ajayi, and smart money is on his run to continue — if not for 200-plus yards per game, then at least a regression to what is actually expected of a starter, something the Dolphins definitely need.