Adrian Fedkiw
With just four days to absorb the Philadelphia Eagles playbook before he played the Denver Broncos, Jay Ajayi spent most of his first day as an Eagle with running backs coach Duce Staley in a meeting room learning the scheme and protection assignments.
When Staley exited the room, he confidently stated “we’re good, we’re good.”
Clearly!
Ajayi saw 17 snaps in his Eagles debut against the Broncos, including eight carries for 77 yards and a touchdown. One of those totes went 46 yards to the house.
Hop aboard the Jay Train, 46 yds to the house!! pic.twitter.com/6K2YG16F6u
— The Bitter Birds (@AdrianFedkiw) November 5, 2017
Ajayi was learning the plays so quickly his first few days with the team that the Eagles added more of them as the week progressed, according to Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich during a press conference on Tuesday.
When there were 15 to 20 plays in that first game, that was more than I was anticipating the week went on, the package grew quite honestly … We put numbers of backs on certain plays. By the end of the week, he was adapting so well and learning so well that we were adding his number to plays because he could handle it.
Now with two weeks to prepare and learn the playbook heading into the Eagles’ showdown against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, Ajayi will certainly see more snaps. Reich explained what to expect.
I look at our game plan for this week, there’s probably not a play on there I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting his number on, as far as him learning it and knowing what to do. That speaks a lot about him as a player.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported earlier this week that Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee is unlikely to play against the Eagles due to a hamstring injury.
Bad timing for #Cowboys LB Sean Lee: Source said he’s unlikely to play this week vs #Eagles and then it’s the Thanksgiving Day game against the #Chargers four days later. May miss several games.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 13, 2017
The difference in the defensive numbers are staggering when Lee is on and off the field. Opposing quarterbacks post a quarterback rating of 107.8 when Lee can’t play as opposed to 85.6 when he’s in the game. The disparity is even worse in run defense. When Lee plays, the Cowboys stifle running backs to just 3.5 yards per carry compared to 5.5 when he doesn’t.
A two yards per carry difference, get ready for Ajayi to be unleashed on Sunday.
Hop aboard, choo choo!
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