Originally Posted by Boris The Great
I want to say up front that I have seen every Texans game this year (yes I know, I am very lucky) and I have my own opinion on how Pollard has looked. But I wanted to see how the stats match up to my opinion.
Here are Pollards official stats from the league:
- 17 tackles, 6 assisted tackles, 23 total tackles.
I wont get into tackles versus assists, because those are subjective anyway. So anything Pollard does will be considered a tackle, even though we are counting some where he was only cleaning up on a play that Ryans or Cushing had already made.
Here is how his run tackle stats break down:
- 9 of his 23 tackles have been made against the run.
- 4 of his 9 tackles against the run were made against the Raiders, when they naturally stacked the box all game and made Russell try to beat them. So in the 3 games not against the Raiders, he has made 5 tackles against the run.
- Of his 9 total tackles against the run, 4 have been actual run-stuffing plays where the RB gained 4 yards or less. On the other 5, the RB gained at least 5 yards before being stopped.
- Of his 4 run-stuffing plays, 2 came against the Raiders.
Here are his pass numbers:
- 14 of his 23 tackles have been against the pass.
- 7 of those 14 tackles have been made between 5-10 yards downfield.
- 5 of those 14 tackles have come more than 10 yards downfield, with 2 coming after 20 or more yards.
- 2 of the 14 tackles have been made for short yardage.
So what can we tell from all this?
First, the idea that Houston is doing something special with him on a consistent basis is pure fiction. If Pollard was strictly being used in the box for run support, he would have more tackles against the run than he does, he wouldnt have as many downfield pass tackles as he does, and he would probably have short yardage tackles against the pass.
When then did use him up in run support, Pollard had a solid game (4 tackles, 2 for short yardage) against Oakland. But he has hardly done anything since then. He has made 1 tackle against the run in each of his last two games, neither of which were run-stuffing plays. He also continues to be a liability in pass coverage.
All of this supports what I thought from watching, which is that Pollard is the exact same player he was when he was here.
The guy Pollard replaced was complete ass, which stands to reason when a teams signs a safety off the street and has him start almost immediately. Their safety play was so bad that Pollard is an upgrade. Of course their fans like him. People here liked Damion McIntosh at LT because he wasnt Jordan Black.
But the improvement in the Texans run D has nothing to do with Bernard Pollard being an improved player, nor does it have anything to do with their coaching staff using him in ways that none of the coaching staffs here could figure out how to do.
Nothing about Pollard has changed. If you liked who he was and didnt think he should have been cut, thats fine. But dont get deluded into thinking that he has suddenly gotten better, because he hasnt.
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