Run Stuffers

[dadmg]

Football Outsiders has been running a Stat of the Day during the playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl and this one features two Texans. From the article:

Today, we'll look at which defensive linemen led the league in Stop Rate against the run. This measures Plays against the run (any tackle or assist, according to official play-by-play) which counts as successful under FO terms: preventing the offense from getting 45 percent of yards on first down, 60 percent on second down, or 100 percent on third and fourth down. Along with Stop Rate for each player, I'm running the average yardage gain when the player made a Play.

This year's leader is a big surprise.

Best Run Stop Rate for Defensive Linemen, 2009
(min. 16 run tackles)

Player
Team
Pos
Run Plays
Stop Rate
Avg Yds
95-S.Cody HOU DT 18 100% 1.4
77-C.Jenkins GB DE 19 95% 1.7
95-J.Babineaux ATL DT 35 94% 0.5
75-J.Parker PHI DE 16 94% 1.6
92-A.Franklin SF DT 30 93% 1.2
96-M.Spears DAL DE 22 91% 1.9
92-C.Davis ATL DE 19 89% 1.7
99-M.Wright NE DT 28 89% 2.6
92-S.Ellis NYJ DE 42 88% 2.0
94-J.Smith SF DE 42 88% 1.8
96-P.Soliai MIA DT 25 88% 2.1
90-M.Williams HOU DE 32 88% 1.4

Shaun Cody was just an average tackle for Detroit from 2005-2008, but he was a great run-stuffer for Houston after they added him to the starting lineup in Week 4. He was just one reason why the Texans were fifth in ALY after being 30th in 2008.

Shaun Cody as the league leader and Mario Williams in the top ten in DL defending against the run. I've got a feeling if they run the same stat for safeties, Pollard might be way up there too. Big change from the beginning of the year when we couldn't stop the run to save our lives.