Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - At the risk of going the self-absorbed route and making this column all about me, I must confess that it is difficult for yours truly to follow 13 games in a single day and come out of all that chaos with anything resembling a coherent thought.

And, as both people who have followed this space religiously know, such incoherence is something of a common occurrence for me.

Thus, rather than continuing to swim against the tide and attempt to come up with some grand statement of profound truth each Sunday, I've decided to embrace the sensory overload of an NFL Sunday by giving you a bunch of brief observations, predictions, short lists, and perhaps an occasional haiku.

And so it begins:

I WAS SURPRISED THAT...

...Mark Sanchez played so well. Making the first start of his NFL career, on the road against a Houston Texans team that was supposed to have a pretty good pass rush, Sanchez was 18-of-31 for 272 yards with a touchdown, an interception, and no sacks absorbed in a 24-7 beat-down of a trendy AFC playoff pick.

...the Panthers were so God-awful. I thought Carolina was headed for a fall this season, but I also figured that with 21 of 22 starters returning from a 12-4 team, and at home against an Eagles team that was going through a transition at several positions, that John Fox's club would have a great chance to beat Philadelphia in Week 1. Five Jake Delhomme turnovers later, the Panthers were walking off the field as 38-10 losers. Paging Dr. Cowher...

...the Chiefs hung with the Ravens. Don't believe what the 14-point final score (38-24) would suggest, Kansas City was in this game until the waning moments, scratching and clawing to a 24-24 tie thanks to a blocked punt for a touchdown, a Derrick Johnson interception that set up another score, and a pretty efficient performance from Brodie Croyle (16-of-24, 177 yards, 2 TD) against a very good defense. Prediction: this team is going to win more games than it loses in the second half of the season.

I WAS NOT SURPRISED THAT...

...Donovan McNabb got hurt. That the guy was able to make 19 starts last year was a minor miracle given McNabb's injury history, and you just knew there wasn't much shot of him coming away unscathed again. McNabb was fallen on in the end zone after a third-quarter touchdown run, and suffered fractured ribs. If he plays next week against the Saints, I'll be shocked. There is no reason to rush McNabb back from such a painful injury in September, and against a weak Saints defense, Kevin Kolb could get a real opportunity to gain some confidence.

...the Bengals got beat, and looked bad in doing so. I heard a lot about Cincinnati's potential for improvement during the offseason, but with Carson Palmer coming off a bad ankle and elbow, an offensive line that is mediocre on its best day, and Cedric Benson a candidate to turn back into a pumpkin at any moment, logic dictated this team would continue to struggle. Sure, Cincinnati lost because of a fluke play, but a 7-6 home win against the Broncos pretty much would have been a loss anyway.

...the Seahawks got back on track. Yeah, they were playing the Rams, but Seattle didn't even entertain the notion that St. Louis would give them a game, prevailing by a 28-0 margin and looking as powerful as they did prior to last year's 4-12 aberration. Matt Hasselbeck (279 yards, 3 TD), Julius Jones (19 rushes, 117 yards, 1 TD) and tight end John Carlson (6 receptions, 95 yards, 2 TD) were but three of the stars. If this team stays reasonably healthy, you can book their NFC West title.

FOUR COACHES WHO DID NOT SLEEP ON SUNDAY NIGHT

1. Marvin Lewis - Lewis didn't sleep both because his team lost a game it pretty much had won, and because the Bengals offense was every bit as bad with Carson Palmer at the controls as it was with Ryan Fitzpatrick running it last year.

2. Gary Kubiak - Houston owner Bob McNair expects the Texans to go to the playoffs, and Kubiak's team was blown out at home by a rookie quarterback on opening day. The bright side is that Mike Shanahan will need an offensive coordinator when he becomes a head coach again next year, and Kubiak figures to be looking.

3. John Fox - Fox's quarterback, Jake Delhomme, has thrown nine interceptions in his last two games, and as Josh McCown and Matt Moore both showed on Sunday, there is no one behind Delhomme.

4. Jim Zorn - There's no shame in losing a road game to the Giants, but the Redskins were never a serious threat in this game, scoring their only offensive touchdown in garbage time. The real trouble, though, is that the defense did not play especially well.

OBLIGATORY FAVRE MENTION

Brett Favre was 14-of-21 for 110 yards and a touchdown in the Vikings' 34-20 win over the Cleveland Browns, and showed the ability to run the plays Brad Childress called for the team's real offensive story, Adrian Peterson (25 carries, 180 yards, 3 TD). Tarvaris Jackson probably couldn't have been as efficient, but I bet Sage Rosenfels could have.

THE BIG BREES-Y

As you know if you were lit up by him in fantasy, Drew Brees threw six touchdown passes in the Saints' 45-27 win over the Detroit Lions, who also showed a beating heart in their debut under Jim Schwartz. Brees needs to average exactly three touchdowns per game the rest of the way to break Tom Brady's single-season TD pass record. He might not throw six again this season, but betcha Brees gets close.

THE THOUGHT CAUSING ME WAKING NIGHTMARES

I received an e-mail from a reader this weekend asking if I had any inside information on halftime entertainment for Super Bowl XLIV. The fear here, my friends, is that it is going to be Bon Jovi, a group comfortably in the Top 10 of the worst things to happen to popular music in the past 25 years.

Think about it: a stadium-sized act that has yet to appear at the Super Bowl, has a new album due, and won't offend television advertisers or the league's corporate underwriters. Bon Jovi's new single is called "We Weren't Born to Follow." Presumably to be followed by other ironically-titled singles such as: "All of Our Fans are Not Stonewashed-Wearing Stepford Wives," "Our Success Was Not Created In a Boardroom," and the future classic, "We Don't Cater to the Lowest Common Denominator of Taste-Challenged Listeners."

Please, NFL, have some sense and just bring back U2 or McCartney.