This is one towel they'll never throw in

A drill using a towel is the highlight for players, and coaches, at practice.

TAMPA - The white towel is placed on the ground 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage. It is clean and bright, just like a quarterback's jersey at the start of a game.

But this is no game.

This is the pass-rush drill, a ferocious part of every Bucs practice in which defensive linemen try to reach the towel and offensive linemen try to stop them. With so much more than a towel at stake, clean and white quickly gives way to down and dirty.

"You can get embarrassed, man," offensive tackle Kenyatta Walker said. "One on one, everything on you. I like it. That's my favorite part of the day. Can you compete? When it's no holds barred - he knows it, you know it - who's going to win?"

In the trenches, 300-pound men clash every play of every game in a brutal display of strength, force and skill. Though nothing can truly duplicate the intensity of a game, the pass-rush drill comes close. Anything less than all-out effort is sure to draw the ire of defensive line coach Rod Marinelli or offensive line coach Bill Muir.

Here's how it works:

During a period of practice devoted to position drills, the biggest men on the field take sides. All five members of the offensive line take their stances at the line of scrimmage. Only one defensive lineman squares up on the other side - say, defensive end Simeon Rice across from tackle Roman Oben. The ball is snapped, and the two players engage.

One on one.

The next few seconds are a full-speed struggle.

"It's the most exciting drill I've ever watched," defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said.

Warren Sapp against John Wade. Anthony McFarland against Cosey Coleman. Greg Spires against Walker. Everyone gets a turn. Over and over, different combinations.

"It's always fun to compete mano a mano," Rice said. "It's the nature of the game to compete. That's where you find out where you are. If you're not that good and you became good, or you have been good and you're starting to fall off - that's how you find yourself."

Tampa Bay boasts some of the best pass rushers in the league. Sapp, Rice, McFarland and Spires - who combined for 28 sacks last season - are a formidable front line. The pass-rush drill is where they hone their skills.

"That's where the game is won," McFarland said. "Everybody talks about stopping the run, but points are scored in the passing game in this league. When you're a defensive lineman you've got to be able to rush the passer.

"Pass rush is more about will than anything. You're not always going to have the best moves, not always going to have the prettiest moves, but it's about will. The will to get to the quarterback; the will of an offensive lineman to stop you from getting there."

The Bucs offensive line, much-criticized last season but showing steady improvement, benefits from the competition. What better way to prepare for Sunday's game vs. Carolina, which had a franchise record 52 sacks last season?

"Your pride is on the line," coach Jon Gruden said. "It's a drill of honor. Those offensive linemen have been brought in here to shut that penetration down and they want to win, so it's going to get competitive. Sometimes you have to keep an eye on them because the big fellas get a little out of hand."

Players are routinely thrown to the ground. Jerseys are grabbed. Egos are bruised. Words are exchanged.

But no one quits.

"The towel represents finish - just try to finish the drill, stay alive," Marinelli said. "You want to develop an attitude of finishing. You can get blocked a little bit and think it's over, but it's never over. You try to develop an attitude in pass rush that you have to finish each rush."

After the one-on-one rotation, the process is repeated two on two. Pass rushers stunt, spin, bull-rush and sprint around the end - anything to touch the towel.

"Honestly, when a guy touches the towel it doesn't always mean he wins," Walker said. "You've got to cleanly get the towel. We can take a guy around the corner, he still touches the towel, but he didn't win. The quarterback can step up, move to the side, there's a lot of different things. It's about who's competing."

Most linemen have done this drill their entire careers. Since college, even high school. Every day. To remain motivated, veterans target specific techniques each session.

"You have to go in there saying there are certain things you want to work on - whether it's your sets, your punch, staying square," said Oben, an eight-year pro. "You work on those things that will make you better when it counts. And the coaches are making it situational this year - simulated two-minute drill, simulated two-step drop."

Bottom line, this is practice. An instructional period.

"What happens if you say jobs are won and lost in a drill like that? A guy will never experiment with a new move," Marinelli said. "Then you're defeating your purpose. What you're trying to do in that drill is compete and develop your skill.

"It's like batting practice - a violent batting practice."

With pads and, remarkably, without. Though players would never think of shedding their pads in a game, several practices are conducted in shorts and jerseys - no pads. The pass-rush drill does not change.

Bodies collide.

"Football is nasty," McFarland said.

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