Riddle me this: How can it be that the Houston Dynamo, with a very pedestrian attack at the moment, sit third in the nine-team Eastern Conference?

Well, I'll tell you how: Houston has scored 43 percent of its goals this year directly off free kicks and corner kicks. If you count two more that came as the indirect result of corner kicks (the goals came before the danger was ever really cleared), that figure rises to a jaw-dropping 71 percent. Compare that to the league-wide figure of just 18 percent.

Last year, 28 percent of Dynamo goals came off set pieces. Compare that with 17 percent league-wide.

You can watch them tonight as D.C. United visits the Orange and try to figure out why Houston is so much better than the rest of the league at spinning free kicks and corner kicks into goal-gold. Or, you can click on the headline above and read the whys and wherefores in my weekly tactics column at MLSSoccer.com. Heck, do both! You're welcome.