by Rivers McCown

It's time to start the usual offseason series presenting various 2012 stats from the multitude of Football Outsiders spreadsheets. Today, let's look at Stop Rate for running plays.

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.

Obviously, Stop Rate isn't a perfect stat. It measures the plays that a player makes, not the plays he misses or the plays he doesn't even get a chance to miss because he is being properly blocked away from the ballcarrier. Still, it gives you a good idea of where players were making their plays and thus why certain defenses were good or bad at certain parts of the game in 2012.

The tables below are limited solely to running plays, including scrambles. We give Run Stop Rate as well as number of Plays and number of Defeats, plus yards per play, which is the average length of a run past the line of scrimmage when this player had a tackle or assist.

Best Run Stop Rates for LB, 2012 (min. 30 Plays) Player Team Run

Stop Rate Run

Plays Run

Dft Run

Yd/Play Ahmad Brooks SF 94% 33 9 1.8 Von Miller DEN 87% 38 16 0.4 Anthony Spencer DAL 85% 65 12 2.4 DeMarcus Ware DAL 83% 36 8 1.8 James Harrison PIT 82% 51 7 2.2 Ryan Kerrigan WAS 78% 32 3 2.2 Erik Walden GB 77% 35 3 2.9 Courtney Upshaw BAL 76% 51 10 2.0 Brian Urlacher CHI 76% 38 13 1.9 Miles Burris OAK 76% 59 7 2.7 Worst Run Stop Rates for LB, 2012 (min. 30 Plays) Player Team Run

Stop Rate Run

Plays Run

Dft Run

Yd/Play Ray Lewis BAL 45% 42 1 4.8 Paul Posluszny JAC 46% 95 6 4.9 London Fletcher WAS 47% 77 7 4.7 Dont'a Hightower NE 50% 32 6 3.7 Jameel McClain BAL 51% 55 4 5.4 Tamba Hali KC 53% 30 3 4.4 Bradie James HOU 53% 58 1 4.0 Vontaze Burfict CIN 54% 72 7 3.5 Paris Lenon ARI 54% 83 7 4.9 Sean Weatherspoon ATL 55% 53 10 4.1

You may think that playing 3-4 outside linebacker is a huge help as far as making the left side of this particular list. You may be right. There have been a few 4-3 outside linebackers and the occasional middle linebacker like Brian Urlacher over the past few seasons, but it definitely helps you collect negative plays if you're moving on the snap. Ryan Kerrigan finished first in run stop rate in 2011, so he's demonstrated some pretty solid ability at edge-setting while still collecting pressure and sacks. James Harrison has also been in the top ten in each of the past two seasons. These are only regular season totals, which explains Erik Walden.

Now let me take it to the other side of the list. Ray Lewis retired not a moment too soon, as he and Bradie James not only had terrible Stop Rates, but also contributed just one rushing defeat. One! Lewis, at least, missed time with injuries and had a bit of an excuse considering his advanced age. I pushed hard for James to make the All-Keep Chopping Wood team, but he lost out to Rolando McClain and Will Witherspoon. To have one run defeat in 58 plays -- so not only are you not generating value often, you're not even occasionally chancing into a negative play for your unit -- is pretty unprecedented for a linebacker. We currently have individual defensive statistics compiled all the way back to the 1996 season. The list of players who garnered zero or one run defeat in over 50 plays is very low and populated mostly by box safeties like Lawyer Milloy or Ken Hamlin. Takeo Spikes had one run defeat in 50 plays in 2006, and Ricardo McDonald had one run defeat in 53 plays in 1997. That is the illustrious company that Mr. James has usurped with his performance this season.

As someone who watched every Texans game this season, I have two things to add about James' performance. One is that a certain person we're about to run into may have vacuumed up some defeat opportunities he could have had. The second is that his run defense is, by any rational test of the eye, at least better than his pass defense. Shane Vereen thinks so, too.

Best Run Stop Rates for DL, 2012 (min. 30 Plays) Player Team Run

Stop Rate Run

Plays Run

Dft Run

Yd/Play J.J. Watt HOU 98% 58 26 -0.2 Desmond Bryant OAK 90% 30 9 1.4 Geno Atkins CIN 86% 35 11 1.5 Jabaal Sheard CLE 85% 41 6 2.2 Dontari Poe KC 84% 38 6 2.3 Dwan Edwards CAR 84% 37 3 2.5 Darnell Dockett ARI 83% 30 7 2.4 Muhammad Wilkerson NYJ 82% 61 10 2.0 Vince Wilfork NE 81% 43 8 1.3 Greg Hardy CAR 81% 42 8 2.7 Worst Run Stop Rates for DL, 2012 (min. 30 Plays) Player Team Run

Stop Rate Run

Plays Run

Dft Run

Yd/Play Justin Tuck NYG 60% 35 2 3.1 Arthur Jones BAL 61% 41 3 3.3 Sean Lissemore DAL 63% 32 2 3.8 Jeremy Mincey JAC 64% 36 8 2.5 Haloti Ngata BAL 65% 43 5 3.0 Elvis Dumervil DEN 66% 35 2 2.9 Chandler Jones NE 66% 35 7 2.5 Sedrick Ellis NO 66% 35 4 2.4 Ziggy Hood PIT 66% 38 7 3.5 Cameron Wake MIA 69% 32 8 2.8

If you read this site at all last year, you know that J.J. Watt had a historical season of footed ball. He obliterated the record for total defeats. He knocked down 17 passes (which is something I will write about soon) by our numbers, and chased the single-season sack record. What might have gotten lost in all that is that he was historically good in run defense, too.

26 run defeats ties Watt with Urlacher in 2002, one behind Zach Thomas' record 27 in 1998. Of course, Thomas had 99 plays and Urlacher had 101. Watt had 58. Watt's 98 percent run stop rate is the highest we have ever recorded (again, the records go back to 1996). Warren Sapp had a 97 percent run stop rate in 2006 (on 33 plays) and Keith Traylor had 97 percent in 2000 (on 32 plays). The common thread there is that the best run stop rate percentages in the league often don't have a whole lot of run plays and barely meet our 30-play qualifying threshold. Paul Soliai had a 100 percent run stop rate this year, but had just 25 run plays. Pat Williams, in 1999, had a 100 percent run stop rate on 29 plays. Watt had a ruthlessly efficient season while still being involved in a ton of plays. These weren't video game numbers; these were evil-scientist-in-a-lair numbers.

The Browns have paired Desmond Bryant with Jabaal Sheard in free agency, meaning they now have two of the top ten in this category. The Jets may not have many exciting pieces at this point, but Muhammad Wilkerson is absolutely in the "Best Non-Watt 3-4 Lineman" discussion. 61 run plays with a strong stop rate is an eye-popping number. If it is possible to be unheralded in New York, Wilkerson has accomplished it.

There really aren't that many defensive linemen who qualify for these lists when you set the minimum at 30, so it's probably best not to take too much out of, say, Cameron Wake being on the bottom-ten list. He's still plenty good and produced a solid amount of run defeats. Ditto Haloti Ngata, who battled through injuries for the entirety of last season.

Best Run Stop Rates for DB, 2012 (min. 20 Plays) Player Team Run

Stop Rate Run

Plays Run

Dft Run

Yd/Play DeAngelo Hall WAS 65% 26 8 5.8 Antoine Winfield MIN 63% 43 7 3.1 Dunta Robinson ATL 61% 28 7 5.7 Da'Norris Searcy BUF 60% 25 5 5.7 Eric Weddle SD 59% 49 6 5.2 Ronde Barber TB 58% 36 11 5.5 Keenan Lewis PIT 57% 21 2 3.2 T.J. Ward CLE 56% 48 6 5.9 Mike Mitchell OAK 55% 20 11 4.9 Quintin Mikell STL 55% 42 4 4.7 Worst Run Stop Rates for DB, 2012 (min. 20 Plays) Player Team Run

Stop Rate Run

Plays Run

Dft Run

Yd/Play Haruki Nakamura CAR 15% 26 1 11.9 Stevie Brown NYG 20% 30 2 11.3 Stephon Gilmore BUF 23% 22 1 7.5 Atari Bigby SD 23% 30 0 7.7 Josh Wilson WAS 25% 20 2 8.3 Chris Conte CHI 25% 28 2 10.3 Michael Griffin TEN 26% 47 4 9.3 Ed Reed BAL 26% 23 1 7.5 Usama Young CLE 27% 26 1 9.2 Devin McCourty NE 28% 29 4 8.9

What really jumps out about this list is that we might have to say nice things about DeAngelo Hall. (Checks FO constitution.) Ah, I see, we don't have to, but we can be nuanced and admit that while he was still awful in coverage last season, there was some decent sense that went into Jim Haslett's plan to play him more at safety. Hall was in the top-10 in run stop rate for defensive backs in 2011, as well. In fact, with the very successful move of Ronde Barber to safety last season (those instincts off the line were always evident), and the Chiefs talking about potentially moving Dunta Robinson to safety, you may see more of these conversions coming. Defensive backs who can play the run adequately can be valuable in the middle of the field even if they aren't terrific in man coverage. Or, in Hall's case, any coverage.

The bottom of this list is populated by the deep safety brigade: guys who spend most of the game 15-to-20 yards past the line of scrimmage trying to foil post and seam routes. Or, in the case of Haruki Nakamura, failing spectacularly at foiling post and seam routes. In case you were wondering, it's not totally uncommon for a deep safety to have a stop rate below 20 percent; Malcolm Jenkins was at 14 percent last year. It's really just an issue of how guys are used, although that doesn't explain how Stephon Gilmore had such a low stop rate playing cornerback in a lot of Cover-2.

We'll use our last paragraph to give a fond farewell to Adrian Wilson's dominant peak. Wilson had finished in the top ten in run stop rate for defensive backs every single season from 2004 to 2011, but lost his starting role in Arizona last season and slipped from the ranks. Wilson landed on his feet in New England, where the Patriots will take a chance on him and see if he can re-discover his old form at 34.