Raiders' Lamarr Houston is a Run Stopping Machine

by Rich Langford on Jun 4, 2011 11:02 PM PDT

I knew Oakland Raider Lamarr Houston made a huge impact in his rookie season, but the recent numbers posted by Football Outsiders still shocked me. FO measured each players stop rate on running plays. FO defines a stop as:

Stop Rate is defined as the percentage of a players Plays that were Stops. Plays are any time a player shows up in the play-by-play on defense: tackles, assists, forced fumbles, etc. Stops are plays that stop the offense short of what FO considers a successful play: 45 percent of yards on first down, 60 percent on second down, and 100 percent on third or fourth down.

To qualify for the list a player had to have a minimum of 30 plays in the run game. They then broke it down to position. Lamarr Houston was the number rated defensive lineman. Houston recorded a stop on 91 percent of the plays he made in the run game. Now, does this mean he is the best defensive linemen in the league at playing the run? No. This stat does nothing to measure the plays that a player was not in. It is, however, a great indication that offensive linemen are not pushing Houston around.

What might even be more eye-catching is that John Henderson is tied for second at a 90 percent stop rate. The most impressive part of this is that he even had enough to qualify for the list. There is no denying the fact that Henderson is still an elite tackle in the run game. He is active and stout.

The Raiders defensive line as whole performed excellent against the run in 2010. As most Raider fans can tell you it was the big play that killed the run defense, and not a result of them getting pushed around on every play. FO actually singles out the Raiders for a paragraph:

The "best rates" list helps show why Oakland's run defense was a surprising 12th in DVOA and fourth in Adjusted Line Yards. The Raiders' defensive line stopped a lot of opposing runners right up front, without even letting them get to the linebackers and defensive backs. Both Richard Seymour and Matt Shaughnessy also made their average tackles within two yards of the line of scrmimage, although with lower Stop Rates.

The message is clear: the Raiders back seven needs to improve in run support and discipline, and if they do (and the d-line stays relatively healthy) you can expect this defense to be among the league leaders in rush defense.

Tweet Comment 3 comments | 1 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

if we get some OLBs that can stop the run

and not just blitz, then our run D will be greatly improved.

by RyanTheRaider on Jun 4, 2011 11:34 PM PDT reply actions

I remember a time when I was ignorant to this idea, but in the last 2 years I've come around

There was a time when I was blaming the defensive line for our run stopping woes, but once Coach Cable said the problem was with the LBs and the numbers corroborated that idea for two years, I’m a firm believer that our problems lie in our OLB play.

Now granted, some of my ranting against the D-line came before we added Richard Seymour, John Henderson, and Lamarr Houston to the line, and I’ve been very excited to have all of them on the team. Still, I’m glad I’ve been set straight on the issue and can target my criticisms properly to those who deserve to be critiqued.

As a last bit, I’m pretty sure I predicted that John Henderson would come in and immediately become our best run-stopping DT…and I was right :)

"When we play tough, and we play physical, and when we play the way we're supposed to play, can't nobody beat us." - Richard "SeaMonster" Seymour

by LiveAdam on Jun 5, 2011 10:30 AM PDT reply actions

I love our DL There is no finer element; it is the core of our Smash-Mouth enterprise now well underway

With such talent at DT and DE now, moving away from a 4-3 now would be utter folly.

S-O-B: ITS HOW I ROLL, DEAL WITH IT.
"I did the (2010) draft. ... I made a trade for Seymour. Gave up the first-rounder this year. I could tell you why. You may not think it was a good trade. I thought it was a great trade. Still do. [Al Davis 1/1911]

by Sons-of-Blanda on Jun 6, 2011 12:34 PM PDT reply actions