Houston Texans' Defense Holds Top Spot in NFL STOP Factor Rankings

The Houston Texans played their second game of the season that was decided by less than a touchdown, but came away with their fifth straight win, beating the Jets, 23-17, last Monday on the Jets’ home field.

The Texans' defense gave up only one touchdown and one field goal in the Jets’ 10 offensive possessions in the game. It was the fourth game this year that the Houston “D” only allowed two or fewer scores by the opponents’ offense.

With that performance last week, the Houston Texans have stayed on top of the weekly NFL STOP Factor rankings. They have stopped their opponents from scoring on 47 of 58 possessions this season, which gives them an 81.0 STOP Factor.

(The STOP Factor is based on the premise that it is the defense’s job to stop its opponents from scoring on each possession. To get a team’s STOP Factor, you divide the number of times a defense stops the offense from scoring—offensive unit TD or field goal—by the number of total possessions by the opposition.)

Following is each NFL team's STOP Factor. Listed is how many times each team stopped its opponent from scoring, the number of possessions its opponent had and the percentage of possessions that each team prevented the other team from scoring (stats are through Week 5 games).

Team, Opponents’ scoreless possessions/opponents’ possessions, STOP percentage

1. Houston 81.0 (47 stops in 58 possessions)

2. Chicago 77.2 (44 stops in 57 possessions)

3. San Francisco 76.0 (38 stops in 50 possessions)

4. Atlanta 73.6 (39 stops in 53 possessions)

5. Seattle 72. 0 (36 stops in 50 possessions)

6. Minnesota 71.7 (38 stops in 53 possessions)

7. Arizona 70.0 (42 stops in 60 possessions)

8. St. Louis 69.8 (37 stops in 53 possessions)

9. Miami 68.8 (44 stops in 64 possessions)

10. San Diego 67.3 (37 stops in 55 possessions)

11. Baltimore 67.2 (39 stops in 58 possessions)

12tie. New England 66.1 (37 stops in 56 possessions)

12tie. Philadelphia 66.1 (37 stops in 56 possessions)

14. Dallas 63.9 (23 stops in 36 possessions)

15. Tampa Bay 63.8 (30 stops in 47 possessions)

16. Green Bay 61.8 (34 stops in 55 possessions)

17. Cleveland 61.4 (35 stops in 57 possessions)

18. Cincinnati 61.1 (33 stops in 54 possessions)

19. Washington 60.7 (37 stops in 61 possessions)

20. Denver 59.6 (31 stops in 52 possessions)

21. Pittsburgh 58.8 (20 stops in 34 possessions)

22. New York Giants 58.3 (28 stops in 48 possessions)

23. New York Jets 56.6 (30 stops in 53 possessions)

24. Indianapolis 56.5 (26 stops in 46 possessions)

25. Detroit 55.6 (20 stops in 36 possessions)

26. Jacksonville 54.7 (29 stops in 53 possessions)

27. Kansas City 53.7 (29 stops in 54 possessions)

28. New Orleans 51.8 (29 stops in 56 possessions)

29. Buffalo 49.1 (27 stops in 55 possessions)

30. Tennessee 48.1 (26 stops in 54 possessions)

31. Carolina 47.1 (24 stops in 51 possessions)

32. Oakland 42.5 (17 stops in 40 possessions)

Biggest gainers this week: Philadelphia (up 5 spots), San Diego (up 5 spots)

Biggest losers this week: Cleveland (down 9 spots), St. Louis (down 8 spots), Seattle (down 5 spots)

Average league STOP Factor (through Week 5): 62.6

Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp