You may remember a lot of talk from us last year about J.J. Watt's record of 56 Defeats in the 2012 regular season. "Defeats" are our stat that combine the following three types of plays:

1) Tackles for a loss

2) Turnovers, or pass deflections leading to interceptions by someone else

3) Tackles, assists, or PDs that prevent conversion on third or fourth down.

Watt's total of 56 last completely blew away the historical field. Our counts of Defeats go back to 1996 and the previous record had been 45 by Ray Lewis in 1999. Derrick Brooks in 1999 was the only other player to ever top 40...

... until this week.

Lavonte David of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had four Defeats against Buffalo this week, giving him 43 on the season. It would take three huge games, but he's within sight of Watt's record. More likely, he ends up with about 50 Defeats, the second highest total since 1996.

Cataloging David's 43 Defeats, we have:

7 sacks (6.0, technically, but since an assist is a Defeat, half-sacks are full Defeats)

5 interceptions

2 PDs on third downs

3 TFL after pass receptions

8 tackles to prevent third-down conversions on pass receptions

13 TFL on runs, including a safety

5 tackles to prevent third-down conversions on runs (one of which was also a TFL)

1 stuff of Mark Ingram on fourth-and-goal

Of course David's season isn't quite as amazing as Watt's. Most of the all-time leaders in Defeats are linebackers. Watt not only set the overall record, he destroyed the previous record for Defeats by a defensive lineman, which had been 37 by Detroit's Robert Porcher in 1997. But it's a pretty damn amazing season for a player who doesn't get a lot of press on a team that started 0-8. You may not have realized this, but Tampa Bay is sixth in defensive DVOA.

Here are your Defeats leaders through Week 14 of 2013:



Player

Team

Pos

Dft 54-L.David TB OLB 43 58-T.Davis CAR OLB 29 99-J.Watt HOU DE 28 50-K.Alonso BUF ILB 27 59-L.Kuechly CAR ILB 27 56-K.Dansby ARI ILB 26 52-A.Ogletree STL OLB 26 94-Ke.Burnett OAK OLB 26 53-N.Bowman SF ILB 25 55-S.Tulloch DET ILB 25 94-R.Quinn STL DE 25 51-P.Posluszny JAC ILB 24 51-D.Smith BAL ILB 24 98-R.Mathis IND OLB 24

T.J. Ward of Cleveland leads all safeties with 20 Defeats. Kyle Williams of Buffalo leads defensive tackles with 20 Defeats. Four different cornerbacks are tied for the lead with 17 Defeats: William Gay, Corey Graham, Chris Harris, and Tramon Williams.