Somewhere between five to 10 minutes after the start of nearly every team practice Dan Quinn has conducted in Washington, a controlled and purposeful hell breaks lose. It's loud, often times drowning out the sound of the music blasting from the speakers. Coaches wave their arms and jump up and down while players move between rapid footwork and short sprints.
"Nobody is running away from the bag drill," linebacker Frankie Luvu said. "It's pretty much just, 'Who's got the most energy?' It's where you wipe off the long eyes and waking up … That's going to set the tone for the whole practice."
Consisting of minimal equipment and very little instruction, the bag drill is simple and some version of it is done by many teams at every level. Dan Quinn's version, though, has a few special wrinkles and stands as an example of the kind of competitive, high-intensity and fun culture the coach is establishing in Washington.
The beginnings of the "DQ-style" bag drill can be traced back to the coach's stint with the Seahawks.
"The origin of doing it really fast came from Pete Carroll during my time in Seattle as a way to say, 'We're going to compete at everything,'" Quinn said. "Going through the bags, you only go four reps, but after each one the emphasis is we finish with a burst. At every position, that's also getting ready to play…those little bursts, we have hundreds of them in a game, so it's priming the body and the mind for all these little quick interactions."
The transition to bags each practice is stark and has been known to turn heads. The minutes before are slower, more moderately paced -- players go through a few reps of position-specific movements and some dynamic stretches with the strength and conditioning staff. Then, with the blare of a horn, it's time.
"All of a sudden you do that [the bag drill], and it's just such a fun kickstart," punter Tress Way said. "It doesn't matter how yesterday went or if something's a little sore. You have your mind already going on what today's going to be."
Divided into two lines, the drill pits the offense versus the defense (special teams is split among the two). Each of the drill's four reps demands a different kind of footwork followed by a quick full-out sprint. Adding to the fire is the involvement of all the coaches. Tight ends coach David Raih perpetually delivers hype on the offensive side.
"It [the bags] just screams DQ, and the culture that is being built" Raih said. "We are constantly reminded every day about how we're trying to operate, and a huge part of that is competing and just being in the moment, working on the process…you're so much more passionate and involved when you're right in the moment, and when you're in this environment of competition it just gets the juices going."
The call to "get juices going" is one that assistant defensive back coach William Gay happily answers every day in the bag drill.
"That's my 'go wild' session," Gay said. "You never know what's going to come out of my mouth, I just go off the top of the head. I'm an energy guy. The bags is an energy drill. Match made in heaven."
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Quinn doesn't treat the bags like one might expect an NFL head coach to treat a short warm-up exercise (i.e. a thing to cross off before getting to the "real football"); In fact, he loves an opportunity to put a microscope to it. The coach is known to display video of the drill in team meetings and declare a winner. As for which side -- offense or defense -- tends to win, well, it's a touchy subject that conjures mixed answers.
"It's a good, competitive period where we get to beat up on the defense a little bit day in and day out," said wide receiver Jahan Dotson.
"Do I need to answer that one?" Coach Gay said. "Sometimes we have to let the offense win, but that's a defensive drill."
While the bags may be straight-forward, determining a victor is not. Scoring is "very complicated" Quinn said and would be "way too long for this article to get into." He will share, though, that sides can be docked if the respective coaches don't bring the energy. Nurturing different aspects of the general player-coach link is a key focus of the drill.
"We wanted it to be something with players and coaches where there's an energy that you give to others and that they can give back to you to get something started," Quinn said.
The drill is quick, but it's powerful. Important not just for loosening up legs and sparking the team, it also communicates one of the most important values Quinn holds as a coach.
"In the bags, you go as hard as you possibly can, and it should be fun," he said. "Working really, really hard and having a good time -- they can be synonymous. It's good to see the players knowing."
