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Despite the fact he was playing with a broken bone in his back, Jay Ajayi wanted more work. And he doesn’t understand why he didn’t get it.

The Eagles running back said after yesterday’s loss to the Vikings that he didn’t understand coach Doug Pederson leaning away from the running game 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 said, via Tim McManus of ESPN.com. “With the offensive line we have on this team, running the ball like that, that doesn’t make sense to me.”

Ajayi didn’t get a carry until the second quarter, and only had eight for the day, as the Eagles had a lopsided 35-17 pass-run ratio. They averaged 4.8 yards per play when they ran, but didn’t do it enough. In last week’s loss to the Titans, they threw 50 passes and ran just 22 times (at 5.3 yards per attempt).

When they did start running more in the second half Ajayi fumbled, but his larger point may have some merit. With Carson Wentz coming back from last year’s knee injury, establishing some degree of run game could offer the kind of protection that’s not always there when you’re dropping back to pass repeatedly. He’s been sacked 12 times and taken 27 hits in three games.

Ajayi would love to help reduce those numbers.