diff --git a/net/sched/sch_generic.c b/net/sched/sch_generic.c
index f18c35024207..80742edea96f 100644
--- a/net/sched/sch_generic.c
+++ b/net/sched/sch_generic.c
@@ -159,12 +159,15 @@ int sch_direct_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct Qdisc *q,
 	if (validate)
 		skb = validate_xmit_skb_list(skb, dev);
 
-	if (skb) {
+	if (likely(skb)) {
 		HARD_TX_LOCK(dev, txq, smp_processor_id());
 		if (!netif_xmit_frozen_or_stopped(txq))
 			skb = dev_hard_start_xmit(skb, dev, txq, &ret);
 
 		HARD_TX_UNLOCK(dev, txq);
+	} else {
+		spin_lock(root_lock);
+		return qdisc_qlen(q);
 	}
 	spin_lock(root_lock);