Jay Ajayi: Eagles Playcalling vs. Vikings 'Doesn't Make Sense to Me'

The Eagles finished with 17 rushing attempts, compared to 35 passing attempts.

Eagles running back Jay Ajayi questioned the playcalling in his team's 23–21 loss to the Vikings on Sunday, wondering why the team didn't run the ball more, especially early in the game.

"Obviously we want to be able to run the ball early and start that rhythm early in the beginning of the game. If I remember correctly, we had maybe three carries at the end of the first quarter," Ajayi told reporters after the loss.

"With the offensive line we have on this team, running the ball like that, that doesn't make sense to me."

The Eagles finished with 81 rushing yards on 17 rushing attempts, and the team averaged 4.8 yards per carry. Philadelphia finished with 283 passing yards on 35 attempts.

Last week's 26–23 overtime loss to Tennessee was a similar story. The Eagles had 117 rushing yards on 22 attempts, averaging 5.3 yards per carry. But the team finished with 315 passing yards on 50 attempts.

The Eagles did start the second half of the Minnesota game with a run-heavy drive, but Ajayi fumbled on the Vikings' five-yard line.

"I can't do that," Ajayi said. "I pride myself on being elite. I want to be elite. I want to be the best. You can't do that when your team is counting on you."

Coach Doug Pederson agreed with Ajayi on Monday but said the decision came down to the situation.

"We just got in a situation where we fell behind, and we fell behind even in the third quarter, it was 20–3 and we were working ourselves back," Pederson said. "I love to run the football and I think our guys are good at it and we've been successful at it, but at the same time, we can't get behind in football games because sometimes the running game won't allow you to get back fast enough."