Run Stuffers
 

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:

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.

Honestly I really don't know what to make of these stats ? They sound impressive but really how meaningful are they ?

The only thing that would make me question the value of this stat in this application is that Cody's got a smaller sample size. Some of the high percentage linemen (like Mario, Shaun Ellis, and Justin Smith) made considerably more stops than Cody. Part of this can be explained by Cody not starting until week four, but small sample sizes can distort. For instance, a higher amount of tackles could indicate a more active lineman - then again it could just indicate someone on a bad defense with more opportunities.

So, what does this tell us? It tells us that the average tackle Mario and Cody made were pretty damn close to the line of scrimmage (1.4 yards) and not further away. It tells us that most of their tackles were meaningful stops as they kept offenses from getting a meaningful amount of yardage and moving the chains. These weren't total-padding tackles, they shut down the opposing offense. And it tells us that they were consistent in holding up against the run.

And from a team perspective, we improved dramatically against the run in FO's statistics jumping from 30th last year to 5th this year, even with our slow start. Obviously that's not all on Cody (*cough*Cushing, Pollard*cough*) but these statistics seem to support the idea that he played a definite role in our improvement.

I guess if we are top 5 out of 32 teams in run defense that is doing pretty good, with many players contributing. You might not want to change too much. Being at the top of the stat is for sure better than being at the bottom of the stat. Way to go Shaun and Mario on this measure.

I am just glad that Cody got on the field. I'd like to see him more often. He also allowed Ryans and Cushing to roam freely without having to fight OL.

I would like to see Okoye have that good of a year this next year. And how about Okam, the man mountain that could if he wanted to, be the nose tackle we really need.

I'd like to see Cody be able to move to the 3-tech on first and second downs and move to NT on 3rd downs.

I'd like to see him record 30 or more solo tackles. If he were on the field more, that would be a possibility. Okoye had 26 last year, but only 1.5 sacks. Okoye should have at least 5 sacks this year if he stays healthy.