Wow, was Michael Vick ever bad last night. 7 of 11 sounds good until you hear that it was only for 26 yards, and that he threw a pick. The ball was all over the place and he looked like, well, a guy who hasn’t played football in a couple of years. There’s another factor here, too – it’s going to take a while for Vick to get back to where he was, but remember that where he was wasn’t exactly at the top of the pile n terms of accuracy. The guy has never been much of a passer, so expecting miracles is probably a bit silly. My expectations for his week three return are very low – even if it is against the Chiefs so he will have all the time in the world to pass because that team is seemingly allergic to the pass rush.

Jeff Jagodzinski must be a real dick. That’s the only real way to explain how you manage to get fired as the coach of a major college team and the offensive coordinator of an NFL team in the space of eight months – and without evenplaying a regular season game. The reports out of Tampa Bay are so bizarre that they are hilarious. Apparently Jagodzinski didn’t really know how to run a practice or install an offense, and he was clueless about calling plays. Other than that, though, he was a great offensive coordinator. I like the Bucs and I hope for the best for new coach Raheem Morris, but wow – it’s a circus down there. They need to get their act together quickly and start running a professional team or Mike Shanahan and Bill Cowher are going to start calling Tampa real estate agents. It’s a strange, strange season when two offensive coordinators have been fired before the season. What is interesting as well is the connection between the Bucs and Chiefs on that front. The Bucs wanted to interview the now-former Chiefs OC Chan Gailey, but wasn’t given permission. The Chiefs wanted to interview Tampa QB coach Greg Olson for their OC job, but were denied permission and kept Gailey around instead. Now Olson is the new OC in Tampa. The teams could likely have saved some real headaches if they had just played nice and let each other do what they wanted.

I was very excited about the start of the college football season. I don’t want to say it was a letdown because any football is better than no football, but those were not two exciting games I watched last night. South Carolina and NC State were both stunningly inept in their 7-3 snoozefest , but they looked like the Saints in a scrimmage compared to Oregon. The Ducks got their first first down of the game eight minutes into the third quarter. They were indescribably bad. It’s hard to know if they just played the worst game any offense has ever played, or if Boise State’s defense is that good. If the Broncos can indeed play defense even half that well all year then they might as well book their BCS tickets now. Here’s hoping that the weekend provides some more exciting action.

Way to launch your Heisman campaigns Jeremiah Masoli and LeGarrette Blount. Blount tried to take a page out of the Ron Artest handbook as he was going off the field. He’ll have lots of time to reflect on that in coming weeks, because I’m guessing he won’t be playing for a while. Stay classy, Oregon.

What year is it? I thought that it was 2009, but I must be wrong. I flipped over and watched some of the Philly – San Francisco baseball game last night in an attempt to stay awake, and Pedro Martinez was pitching like a guy who is much younger and healthier than he is supposed to be in 2009. He watched his first pitch leave the park, but then he settled down, channeled his older, better self, and outdueled none other than Tim Lincecum. Very impressive. I was very skeptical about bringing back Pedro, but I’m beginning to think that a mea culpa might be in order. He’s not going to change the world, but he clearly has enough left in the tank to make this team better than they already are.

Update: I just saw the breaking news that the Bills have fired offensive coordinator Turk Schonert. The NFL is always a league of trends (look at how many wildcat offenses there will be this year, for example), but this trend of firings OCs at the end of the preseason is one of the more ridiculous of all time. It’s hard to believe that any of these new guys will be able to turn things around quickly, so the teams are running from behind right from the start. So strange.

Second Update: I can’t not comment on this strange story. A week after cutting QB Kevin O’Connell the Patriots have reportedly cut backup Andrew Walter. That means that they go into the season with rookie Brian Hoyer and not much else. Surely they would know more than any team that a starter can disappear in a flash. Very strange.