Illustrating the impact of the top two Texans

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky The Houston Texans definitely still have roster work to do to fill in around their stars.
But there is no lack of evidence about the impact their two biggest stars - receiver Andre Johnson and defensive end Mario Williams - have been having.
Johnson has the most productive per-game receiving yardage average since the start of the 2007 season. This season he is third in the league in receiving yards per game at 97.6 yards per game, behind Greg Jennings and Brandon Marshall.
MOST RECEIVING YARDS PER GAME, 2007-08
Player G Rec Rec/G Yds Yds/G
A. Johnson, HOU 14 94 6.7 1,339 95.6
L. Fitzgerald, ARI 20 131 6.6 1,876 93.8
R. Wayne, IND 20 129 6.5 1,860 93.0
R. Moss, NE 20 115 5.8 1,767 88.4
B. Marshall, DEN 20 136 6.8 1,748 87.4
On the other side of the ball, Williams leads the NFL since October 1, 2007 with 18.0 sacks, including five multi-sack games. It's hard to argue anymore with the Texans use of the top pick in the 2006 draft.
MOST SACKS SINCE OCTOBER 1, 2007
Player, Team Games Sacks Sacks/Gm
M. Williams, HOU 17 18.0 1.06
D. Ware, DAL 18 17.0 0.94
J. Allen, KC/MIN 18 16.5 0.92
P. Kerney, SEA 17 16.0 0.94
K. Vanden Bosch, TEN 17 15.5 0.91
Williams has accounted for 52.6 percent of the Texans sack total over the last two seasons. He is the only player in the NFL to account for more than half of his team's sacks over the last two years.
The Texans are touting that number and it does show what an impact player he is. But I think that illustrates the team is too reliant on him and he hasn't gotten enough help. John Abraham seems to be in a similar situation in Atlanta. Aaron Kampman, Jared Allen and Demarcus Ware, meanwhile, have been part of defenses that have produced more sacks, and that shouldn't be viewed as a bad thing. They've got big sack numbers that aren't any less valuable just because they account for less of their team's totals.
PERCENT OF TEAM SACK TOTAL, 2007-08
Player, Team Sacks Team Sacks Pct of Total
M. WILLIAMS, HOU 20.0 38 52.6
J. Abraham, ATL 17.0 35 48.6
A. Kampman, GB 18.0 48 37.5
J. Allen, KC/MIN 18.5 50 37.0
D. Ware, DAL 20.0 61 32.8


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