Talk about over the top. Here's what David Carr had to say while prepping for Jacksonville's Pro Bowl defensive tackles, Marcus Stroud and John Henderson, earlier this month: "There's nothing else like them in the NFL. They can take out, like, five guys just by standing there. And they're seven feet tall." Hey, it might just seem that way looking at them flat on your back. Stroud, taken in the first round out of Georgia in 2001, stands 6'6''. Henderson, Jax's No. 1 pick in 2002 out of Tennessee, is 6'7''. What makes both appear larger than life to offensive coordinators, QBs and Pro Bowl voters is their exquisite sense of timing. It's not only NFL crossing routes that rely on perfect synchronicity. As Henderson and Stroud—along with Jags head coach Jack Del Rio and defensive coordinator Mike Smith—explain, even in the trenches, choreography plays a key role.
STROUD The first thing on our mind is to be violent and disruptive and rip someone's head off. But to do that you need great timing.
SMITH People have a misconception with defensive tackles, that they're just big guys who stomp around with no plan. That's totally wrong. In a four-second play, these guys not only have to be physical, they have to process a ton of information and make decisions that affect everything we do behind them.
DEL RIO Listen, the interior of the defensive line is always going to be about sheer power, strength and desire. What timing does is enhance all of that, take it to another level. It is something, to see athletes that big and intense moving with such intricate precision.
HENDERSON If you're rushing on the edge, you've got about 2.8 seconds to get around the corner. Here's how we look at it: after one second we should have jumped the snap, shocked the guy and engaged. After two seconds, penetrate, control and read the play. Now we've got 0.8 seconds left to make something happen. That's with bodies flying everywhere and plays changing within a fraction of a second.
SMITH We want Marcus and John to be singing out of the same hymnal. They have to see everything the same way, process everything the same way and be thinking the same way, so that when they hit it, they hit it at the same time. If their timing is good, you've got a superior sense of power from them being joined together.
DEL RIO When it's working, it like ballet.
SMITH Our pass defense operates based on forcing the ball out of the quarterback's hands in a specific amount of time, depending on the situation. If we can't hit that time, it begins to have a negative effect across the rest of the defense. Every second over that limit changes the angles and decisions of the linebackers. Behind them, the defensive backs can only maintain their coverage for so long.
HENDERSON Corners are always too busy to notice what we do on the field. But the next day in the film room, they see us disrupting the quarterback's timing, where we force the guy into making a bad throw that they pick off. That's when they usually say, "Yo, 'preciate that, Hendy."
STROUD So we get credit once in a while. Our timing is all about disrupting someone else's timing. A way to look at our defense is as a time puzzle that shifts with each second that goes by. If you're a piece that's not where it's supposed to be-if you're late or even too early-the whole puzzle is screwed. Everything bad or good you see happen to a D is a result of timing. Timing for us begins and ends with who's gonna get on the attack first; who can get off the snap first.
HENDERSON It comes down to me wanting to get on that guy across from me and under his pads before he gets his hands extended on me.
STROUD So timing is all about getting off the ball first. And it's so important to use whatever you can to get an advantage.
HENDERSON Right, that's where film study and experience come in. See, almost all centers give you clues about the snap. Most of them sag down, look right down the line, shake their head, look left, shake their head, pause and snap the ball. Peyton Manning comes up, smacks the center on the leg, pauses, then the snap comes. The biggest other clue we use to get a jump on the snap is a lineman's hands.
STROUD Which is why most guys have taken to wearing gloves now.
HENDERSON Because if they aren't wearing gloves, you can look down and read the pressure in their fingertips.
STROUD Red fingertips? Man this guy is coming off the ball. White fingertips, or a guy barely touching the grass? It's pass. Then you want to get off the ball so fast and strong, you shock the person.
HENDERSON You know what happens when you looks sneak up on somebody and scare them, and their whole body flinches? That's what you want.
STROUD And now guess what? Now their timing is all messed up.
HENDERSON If you time it right, you can feel right away that the guy's strength is gone, because he's using everything to get corrected and balanced instead of using all he has to control me. You can feel it, in your arms and hands and in the push-pull between you. In my mind, I'm thinking that I beat him to the punch, I got him, I'm in control.
STROUD Snap, pow, whoosh. That's how long you have. It's not even a half a second before you know if you've won the play or not.
SMITH That's actually way too long. Half a second? It's quicker than that.
HENDERSON Especially when you're playing the run on guys like Shaun Alexander and LaDainian Tomlinson.
STROUD If a blocker can get me even a fraction out of my gap, in the time it takes to correct my body position, a great runner is through the hole and past you.
HENDERSON LT is one step ahead of that. He doesn't read the blocker, he reads your head. If he sees you peek out from behind the blocker's right shoulder, whoosh, he's coming down the left side. And in the time it takes for you to switch sides, to move your head two feet to the other side of that guy's body, he's gone. If you peek on LT, he's gone.
STROUD Yep, it's that fast.
HENDERSON Now, with pass-rushing, timing is all about setting a guy up and picking the right time to hit 'em with something. You get in their head so they don't know what's coming and they get flustered. Then you're in control.
STROUD Like in 2003, when we shut out the Texans (27-0) and we just had our timing perfect. I mean, everything just clicking. After the game, some of the Texans said it felt like they had been tied to a tree and beaten. Here's an example of what we did. I start a lot of games hitting the B gap between the guard and the tackle hard. Hit the B gap. Hit it. Hit it. Hit it. And then the moment I sense the guard shifting to protect his outside shoulder-wham!-I'm coming hard to the inside. John likes to set guys up by using his speed move up the field. Speed. Speed. Speed. And the moment he senses the guard, bailing out and off balance, try to protect his outside shoulder -sheeeewhoooop!-he crushes him with his nasty forklift move. It's a power move. Just sheer upfield strength.
HENDERSON Yeah, forklift time.
SMITH On moves and stunts, timing is a feel for leverage and balance. Once you feel a blocker's momentum, weight and balance shift, you have a split second to hit your move while he's vulnerable. Everyone in this league is trying to stay balanced. So the guys who become special are the ones who can sense when leverage or balance has shifted, then hit their move.
DEL RIO Some of our pass-rush stunts are called, some are pure reactions and some are done on half a call, meaning you go only if the line is doing this and that and the timing is right.
HENDERSON We use a lot of different pass-rush stunts, but they all come down to timing. Like our Tom stunt: if I'm getting doubled, Marcus will make a quick, hard penetrating move up the field on the center. Hopefully, I see this or sense it, and when the guard peels off me to help on Marcus, I make my move.
DEL RIO Knowing when to go on something like this is like hitting a curveball. Someone can't just yell "swing" from the dugout to initiate your swing mechanism. You have to learn to feel when the right time is.
STROUD You don't say a word. Just read each other. That's next level, man.
HENDERSON What works best is when I get a sense that the guard or center is going, uh-oh . Because that's the trigger on their side for help.
STROUD Nine times out of 10, we get it right. John gets doubled. Boom, I penetrate toward him. The guard comes off John, then John curls under me.
HENDERSON All that's left is to hit the quarterback in the mouth. My first game against Philadelphia, we ran it three times and I got three sacks. STROUD Mmm, mmm, mmm. When it's working, it's sweet, man.
HENDERSON Yeah, you come around the corner and all you see is wide-open space and a quarterback standing in the middle of it.
STROUD Greatest feeling in the world.
HENDERSON Then it's a wrap.
STROUD But-
HENDERSON Yeah, yeah, but here's the thing. The timing thing. Again.
STROUD On running plays, if I don't penetrate and give John room to run, he'll be late swinging around, and we've got a hole there so wide, the only thing that back is gonna hit is the post at the back of the end zone.
HENDERSON Same thing on passing downs. If Marcus penetrates flat, it makes it hard for me to swing around him. And if I go too early, I jam into Marcus and we take each other out of the play, and the clock ticks away as the quarterback has all day to look around and find someone open.
STROUD Yeah, and if John comes around the end too soon, he leaves a cutback lane where he was, and they can gash us on the back side.
HENDERSON But if Marcus is too slow coming across, it leaves a lane open on the front side. So it has to be perfectly matched up. He leaves at the right time and does his job, and I
react to him at the exact right time and do my job. That's how it works.
STROUD That's why we practice so much, to get our timing down. Because being half a second early or half a second late on something like that is usually the difference between a one-yard loss and a 41-yard gain.
HENDERSON You want to know what timing is all about in the NFL?
STROUD It's the fraction of a second between being early on a stunt or being late.
HENDERSON That's it, right there.
STROUD Winning and losing is all in the time between those two.