National Football League

Overreactions: Move over Elliott, Ajayi is NFL's best back

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:40 p.m. ET

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Move over Ezekiel Elliott, Jay Ajayi is the NFL's best running back.

Ajayi tied a league record by surpassing 200 yards rushing for the second straight game, helping the Miami Dolphins win two in a row.

Ajayi ran for 214 yards in a win over Buffalo after totaling 204 yards a week earlier against Pittsburgh. He joins O.J. Simpson, Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams as the only players to have consecutive 200-yard games.

Now, the former fifth-round pick has to wait an extra week to break the record because Miami (3-4) has a bye.

Elliott leads the league in rushing, helping Dallas (5-1) to first place in the NFC East. But the rookie hasn't even had a 150-yard game yet.

Surely, he's no Ajayi.

By the way, Ajayi had 304 career rushing yards before his outburst. He also did it against two of the league's bottom-12 defenses against the run. Let's see how he does against the Jets on Nov. 6. New York is the fourth-ranked run defense in the league.

Here are other overreactions following Week 7:

OVERREACTION: The Vikings are the 2015 Falcons, who started 5-0 and finished 8-8.

REALISTIC REACTION: Minnesota wasn't going 16-0. Besides, the Eagles also dominated the Steelers in Philadelphia and the Vikings could go 9-7 and still outdo Atlanta's finish last year.

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OVERREACTION: Ben Roethlisberger is the most valuable QB in the NFL. Without him, the Steelers lost 27-16 to Pittsburgh.

REALISTIC REACTION: With Big Ben, Tom Brady and the Patriots still could've won that game.

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OVERREACTION: The Giants should make Landon Collins a running back. He showed more moves on a 44-yard interception return than any of New York's backs.

REALISTIC REACTION: There's a reason Collins is a safety.

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OVERREACTION: Don't count the Chargers out in the AFC West. They beat the Falcons on the road after knocking off Denver.

REALISTIC REACTION: Despite two good wins, San Diego (3-4) is still in last place.

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OVERREACTION: The Pack is back. Aaron Rodgers led Green Bay to an easy win over Chicago.

REALISTIC REACTION: Almost every team beats the Bears (1-6).

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OVERREACTION: Andrew Luck will never lose to the Titans. He's 10-0 against them.

REALISTIC REACTION: If Marcus Mariota learns to protect the ball, Luck's dominance against Tennessee eventually will end.

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OVERREACTION: Case Keenum should be benched after throwing four interceptions.

REALISTIC REACTION: Not every pick is on the QB. Three of Keenum's weren't his fault.

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OVERREACTION: The Cardinals-Seahawks 6-6 tie is indicative of how bad the NFL is this season.

REALISTIC REACTION: Russell Wilson is playing hurt and those are two excellent defenses.

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OVERREACTION: The Texans (4-3) are the worst first-place team in the NFL.

REALISTIC REACTION: They've lost to the Broncos (5-2), Patriots (6-1) and Vikings (5-1).

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OVERREACTION: The Browns really are going 0-16. They're on their sixth quarterback in seven games.

REALISTIC REACTION: Johnny Football is available and ... not much good news here, actually.

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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL

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Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP-RobMaaddi

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