Yes, the Bucs play their first preseason game Thursday night. Locals not going to the game can watch the game on tape-delay Friday night at 7:30 p.m. on WFLA-TV Channel 8.

Joe knows many Bucs players, both rookies and veterans, are looking forward to hitting someone that’s not a teammate. Schiano seems to be trying to temper such expectations, as he noted his players have a long way to go on bettering themselves rather than battering an enemy.

“I’m trying to not let us go there,” Schiano said. “Right now, we got to work on ourselves. I think they’re tired of hitting, period. They’re getting tired of going as hard as we’re going. What happens with the preseason game is you have a day that breaks it up; you have a day before the game where you don’t do a whole lot. Then, the day after the game you don’t do so much, depending, some guys may do more than others. So really what it builds in is it breaks up the monotony of going day after day after day, so I’m sure they’re looking forward to that.”

The normal drudgery of training camp ends today. As Schiano noted, things change tomorrow and after a couple of practices following Thursday’s game, the Bucs fly to New England to practice a few days and then play Bill Belicheat and the Patriots.

Before the Bucs know it, training camp will be over. That doesn’t mean Schiano and the coaching staff won’t still have many tough decisions — who to keep on the roster, and who to send packing.