Arian Foster's rushing success is largely due to his team's blocking

The top 3 running backs in the NFL after week 5 based on rushing yards are:
1.  Arian Foster (Texans), 564 yds, 112 yds/game
2. Chris Johnson (Titans), 485 yds, 97 yds/game
3. Adrian Peterson (Vikings), 480 yds, 120 yds/game

Should be noted that Peterson was on a bye one week so his average is based on 4 games.

Now is you look at the average run defense ranking for the teams that each of their respective teams have played against:

                            Avg Run Def Rank (nfl.com)       PFF Rating rank
Texans                          16.7                                       19.2
Titans                            15.6                                       10.4
Vikings                          18.2                                       17.7

From these numbers I would say that the Texans and Vikings have played against slightly worse run defenses than the Titans.  Now let's look at their own team's run blocking rank according to the PFF guys.

                      Run block team rank
Texans                      2
Titans                      28
Vikings                   24

Here we see a huge difference!!  The Texans have one the best run blocking teams in the league compared to the Titans and Vikings who are in the bottom eight.  Therefore Foster is being helped a great deal by his own team's blocking.

Will the Steelers be even better with Big Ben?

After a much publicized and tormentors off season Ben Roethlisberger is set to return to the Steelers this week against the Browns, not exactly the toughest assignment for him. Now Big Ben was originally suspended for 6 games had his suspension reduced to 4 and has been training the house down apparently. Also the Steelers are in good shape in his absence after a good games from Dennis Dixon who was hurt and then replaced by a surprising Charlie Batch. Both put up good performances to have the Steelers at 3-1. Now Big Ben is coming back and the Steelers are poised to be a better team and have the rest of the AFC North worried.