Josh McCown says training camp was going a little too Star Wars

 Finally, your beloved Buccaneers will face real competition in just 34 hours. Tampa Bay plays in Jacksonville to open the 2014 preseason.

Bucs players have been getting sick of clobbering each other in practice. Running backs are tired of the nasty wood Mason Foster has been delivering during the limited time he’s been unleashed. But the desire to play a real opponent is more than physical.

Starting quarterback Josh McCown explained yesterday that he and the offense are starting to think to much and need to play some real football to get back in a flow.

“When you practice against the defense as much as we do, you know, in training camp when teams do that, there’s a give and take and a back and forth. They’ve seen so many plays so many times, and you’ve seen their defense so many times, there’s kind of this Jedi mind game that starts going on,” McCown said. “So it’ll be fun to line up against a different opponent .. and not trying to outthink yourself against somebody that sees you every day.”

It’s a fair point, and, for those wondering, McCown does change plays at the line of scrimmage in training camp and the offense and defense are dialed in to all the keys they would be in a real game. But it gets to be an unrealistic chess match after so many practices.

Lovie Smith made it clear there will little, if any, game-planning for the Jaguars, and the Bucs will just go out and execute (hopefully). The third preseason game (in Buffalo) is when the starters will play into the second half and the team will prepare as if it’s a regular season game.

As for the preseason opener, McCown went on to say he hasn’t lost his passion for every second on the field, calling every Game 1 of the preseason, “the coolest thing.”

He said he also advised Bucs rookies to “cherish” the moment because you don’t know how long it will last.

For those interested in Jedi mind games, watch the video below.