Sheldon Richardson and Leonard Williams Led the Way Stopping the Run for the Jets

One of the stats I've come up with in the last few years is run sacks. The idea is simple. When a player tackles the quarterback for either a loss or no gain on a passing play, he gets credited with a sack. It is a big deal. You don't get the same level of hype when somebody makes a tackle for no gain or a loss on a run play, though. Thus I have created the run sack.

With the season over, I used the Play Index at Pro Football Reference to compile the Jets' run sack totals for 2016.

It is no surprise that Leonard Williams tied for the team lead. What was surprising was that Sheldon Richardson also tied for the team lead. This is really interesting stuff for me because I don't recall Sheldon really popping on the film to the extent the numbers would indicate.

I'll be reviewing the season over and over as the offseason goes on, and this is something I will watch. Perhaps Sheldon's season was not quite as dismal as I (and pretty much everybody) thought it was.

As you can see from the league leaders, Sheldon and Leonard rate near the top. As has typically been the case, the Jets had an excellent run defense in 2016 aside from a hiccup in San Francisco. As dismal as many recent Jets seasons have been, one thing they can always count on is a good run defense.