Knee injury will cost Eagles’ Ajayi season

Jay Ajayi wanted the Eagles to run the ball more and head coach Doug Pederson agreed.

They’ll have to do it without their top running back.

Philadelphia placed Ajayi on injured reserve Monday because of a knee injury. A person familiar with the situation says Ajayi tore an ACL and will miss the rest of the season. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team hasn’t announced the severity of the injury.

Ajayi had 29 yards rushing on eight carries and lost a fumble at the Vikings’ 5 in a 23-21 loss to Minnesota on Sunday. He was acquired by the Eagles from Miami at the trade deadline last season and helped the team win the Super Bowl.

“I love to run the football,” Pederson said. “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.”

Ajayi, in the final season of his rookie contract, had 184 yards rushing, an average of 4.1 yards per carry and three touchdowns this season.

Darren Sproles has missed the past four games with a hamstring injury. Corey Clement hasn’t played in the past two because of a quadriceps injury. Wendell Smallwood has 150 yards rushing, an average of 6.0 yards per carry and one TD on the ground and one receiving. Rookie Josh Adams has seven carries.

The Eagles (2-3) visit the Giants (1-4) on Thursday night.

Giants to cut lineman: The Giants are parting ways with 2015 first-round draft pick Ereck Flowers.

New York head coach Pat Shurmur said the tackle who was the ninth pick overall was going to be cut or traded by Tuesday afternoon.

The move isn’t a surprise for the Giants. Flowers lost his starting job at right tackle to Chad Wheeler after the second game of the season and the play of the line improved.

Flowers has been a disappointment since being taken from Miami. He was supposed to be the team’s left tackle for the next decade. His play was so poor that New York signed former New England left tackle Nate Solder to a four-year, $62 million contract as a free agent this spring.

Briefly: Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan had negative results on an X-ray of his foot following Sunday’s blowout loss at Pittsburgh . ... The Jets activated former 49ers cornerback Rashard Robinson and released safety J.J. Wilcox . ... Cleveland wide receiver Rashard Higgins could miss some games with a sprained knee.