How Does Justin Houston's Sack Performance Stack Up with J.J. Watt's in 2014?

For a few moments as the clock ticked to an end of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 2014 season, outside linebacker Justin Houston had a chance to break the record for sacks in a season (22.5) held by Michael Strahan. Houston still finished with a league-leading 22 sacks to tie Jared Allen and Mark Gastineau for second place on the single-season sacks list.

Meanwhile, Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt finished with 20.5 for the second time in three years and became the first player to have more than 20 sacks in a season twice since the stat was created in 1982. Houston and Watt also became the first two players to get to 20 sacks in the same season.

When all things are considered, Houston’s season stacks up well against Watt’s season. Watt is in the MVP discussion, which just proves how special a season it was for both him and Houston.

Houston even passed Derrick Thomas for the most sacks in a single season in franchise history. Thomas’ record of 58 sacks before his 26th birthday is one better than Watt and 9.5 better than Houston.

Player	Sacks
Derrick Thomas (HOF)	58.0
J.J. Watt	57.0
Dwight Freeney	51.0
Tim Harris	49.0
Von Miller	49.0
Justin Houston	48.5
Terrell Suggs, Reggie White (HOF), Mario Williams	48.0

Even if we don’t consider the fact Houston had more sacks than Watt, the two players had very similar seasons. Both Watt and Houston came into the year seeking new contracts and both finished with 53 quarterback hurries to go along with their sacks.

Watt got his megadeal, and it’s only a matter of time before Houston is paid. Houston will be a free agent if the two sides don’t come to an agreement, but there is no scenario in which the Chiefs don’t at least slap the franchise tag on him.

The other differences between the two have to do with how Watt and Houston are used. Watt had more opportunities to rush and made a bigger impact on the quarterback than Houston, but he wasn’t quite as efficient. Put another way, Houston didn’t rush the quarterback nearly as much as Watt, but he got pressure on a higher percentage of his opportunities.

The other differences were minor.

Player	Pass Rush Snaps	Sacks	Hits	Hurries	Pressure %
Houston	444	23	8	53	18.92%
Watt	631	21	44	53	18.70%
Difference	-187	+2	-36	0	+.22%

Houston got a sack, hit or hurry 18.9 percent of the time and Watt got there 18.7 percent of the time. At most, that’s one total pressure over the course of the season if opportunities are equal. That’s not even enough to acknowledge there is a difference at all.

Of course, Watt had 118 total pressures on 631 pass rush snaps compared to just 84 pressures on 444 pass rush snaps for Houston. The difference was Houston only rushed about 75 percent of the time with the other 25 percent of the time spent in coverage.

Ultimately, dropping into coverage as much as he did may have cost him the record.

“The last couple of plays that Coach (Bob Sutton) called were for me to drop,” Houston said after the Chiefs’ Week 17 win over the San Diego Chargers via Sam Mellinger of The Kansas City Star. “It's a team game.”

The Chiefs also played a much tougher schedule compared to the Texans, who had the easiest schedule in the league by just about every metric. That means the Chiefs weren’t out to big leads so Houston couldn’t just pin his ears back on every play.

In Week 17, Houston added four sacks to his total by shredding Chargers right tackle D.J. Fluker and then his backup Willie Smith. Houston took over the game because the situation allowed him to just do what he does best and that’s rush the quarterback.

In five games against common opponents, both Houston and Watt had five sacks. Watt had 19 hits on the quarterback to Houston’s one, but nine hits and six hurries came against EJ Manuel before the Buffalo Bills benched him.  

Stat	Watt	Houston
Pass Rush Snaps	179	150
Sacks	5 (4 vs. Mettenberger)	5
Hits	19 (14 vs. Manuel & Mettenberger)	1
Hurries	18 (14 vs. Manuel & Mettenberger)	23

Watt also put the hurt on Tennessee’s awful offensive line twice and got four sacks, five hits and eight hurries. Houston had two sacks and four hurries against the Titans, so it’s reasonable to think the production would have been similar with a repeat.

Houston really did well against the Raiders with two sacks, a hit and 15 hurries in two games. Comparatively, Pro Football Focus gave Watt his only negative grade of the season against the Raiders partly because he had just three hits and two hurries in that game.

Watt finished with sacks in 12 games, including two or more in seven contests. Houston had sacks in 13 games with two or more six times. Houston also had two games with four sacks whereas Watt topped out at three in two games.

Overall, Houston was probably better about getting to the quarterback or at least affecting him on fewer opportunities. Watt was better at getting hits on the quarterback but didn’t quite affect the quarterback as efficiently as Houston.

The more efficient Houston allowed the Chiefs to use him in coverage and as a decoy. Of course, that was also possible because the Chiefs have outside linebacker Tamba Hali, nose tackle Dontari Poe and defensive end Allen Bailey rushing the passer, and all of them had more sacks than the Texans’ No.2 pass-rusher in 2014.

Having good teammates is double-edged sword because some of Houston’s half sacks may have been full sacks and some of his hurries and hits would have been additional sacks. The theory is they helped Houston, but it’s hard to say that for sure.

For now, we just have to take Houston's performance at face value. He may not have played tight end like Watt did at the goal line, but Houston still had a season right up there with him defensively. Watt will likely be the consensus defensive player of the year, but in any other year it would be Houston taking home the hardware. 

Unless otherwise noted, all statistics via NFL.com or Pro Football Focus (subscription required).