Tedy Bruschi and Damien Woody share their thoughts on the Sunday afternoon game between the Dolphins and Ravens. (0:58)

DAVIE, Fla. -- Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen was surprised by a statistic he learned this week: On Sunday the Dolphins will face their ninth, top-five rated run defense of the season against Baltimore.

"I thought top five meant there’s only five of them," Christensen said laughing. "There have been nine, top-five rush defenses. ... So I don’t know how those numbers figure out. We’ll just keep trucking."

Indeed, Miami (7-4) will face the NFL's No. 1 run defense of the Ravens (6-5) in a big game with playoff implications. Baltimore is allowing just 74.9 rushing yards and 3.4 yards per carry this season. In fact, this is the second time this season Miami faced the league’s top run defense. The Jets led the NFL in run defense in Week 8 when the Dolphins beat them, 27-23.

Miami running back Jay Ajayi, who is seventh in the league in rushing with 847 yards and averaging 5.3 yards per carry, is looking forward to arguably his biggest test of the season. The winner of this rushing matchup will go a long way to determining the outcome of Sunday’s game.

"They have a front -- a lot of good players up there," Ajayi said Thursday. "(Terrell) Suggs, he’s been doing it for a long time. Their linebackers, as well, are good. I know we’re going to have a good challenge again this week. They’re playing well right now; we’re playing well, so it will be fun."

Ajayi burst on the scene in Year 2 with back-to-back 200-yard games in Week 5 and Week 7 against Pittsburgh and Buffalo, respectively. Since then, his numbers have gone down as opposing defenses made him the primary focus.

San Francisco last week constantly put eight -- and sometimes nine -- in the box to stop Ajayi, who had just 45 rushing yards on 18 carries. He averaged a season-low 2.5 yards per carry as Miami was forced to win with the passing game.

The Dolphins, who have won six straight behind a strong rushing attack, expect to see more of that from opposing defenses down the stretch.

"The thing that kind of got us jump-started was the run game," Christensen said. "So, I do think that people still want to make you prove you can throw the ball on first and second down. You can’t let the run get started. You can’t let Jay Ajayi get started."

Balance will be the key for Miami as it makes its playoff push in the final five games. Ajayi has led the way and made things easier for quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who has nine touchdown passes and one interception in the past six games.

"It’s a good feeling to know we’re going against top defenses and we’re having success," Ajayi said. "At the same time though, we just want to keep proving a point every time we step out there."