If you want insight of any value when it comes to the 2010 New England Patriots I would suggest that you stop reading and look somewhere else.

I know nothing. And when I mean nothing, I mean nothing. I just had to do a spell check on "Brady." Wait, Belichick cuts his sweatshirt? Basically I'm as clueless as Andrea Kramer during her halftime update Sunday night.

After watching the Patriots put on a nationally televised clinic in Pittsburgh in a 39-26 win (recap) that really wasn't even that close, I've given up -- no more trying to figure out the Patriots. What's the point? I'm always wrong.

I'll fully admit it -- I gave them no chance to win this game. I thought the Steelers were the best team in the NFL and a horrible matchup for the Patriots. Too physical on defense, to be sure, and a quarterback with the ability to make plays on the run AND a running back that can get to the edge and a solid wide receiving corps. I had the Steelers winning, 28-20, and to be honest that was leaning toward charity.

The truth? I couldn't get Colt McCoy and Peyton Hillis and Eric Mangini out of my head.

I figured this was going to be the 2010 version of the last year's Monday Night humiliation in New Orleans -- the kind of loss that belts you with reality and wipes out any real Super Bowl ambition.

Instead, what we watched was just the opposite. I still don't think there is anything close to a clear-cut favorite in either conference right now (but remember, I know nothing), but if you want to put the Pats at the front of the line in the AFC it's hard to argue. It was simply, from soup to nuts, a magnificent performance against a very, very good Pittsburgh team. OK, they gave up 23 fourth-quarter points. But when it mattered -- when it was a GAME -- the Steelers scored three points through the first three quarters. 

I didn't think the Patriots would be able to run the ball against the NFL's best rushing defense. Guess what? I was wrong (24 carries, 103 yards, best effort vs. Pittsburgh this year). Oh, and I thought it would have to be Danny Woodhead out there for the Pats to move the ball, and figured Green-Ellis would struggle against an aggressive D-line. Wrong, wrong, wrong. If you had given me 17.5 as Green-Ellis' over/under rushing yardage total for the game I probably would have taken the over but with plenty of pause. His first run of the game went for 18 yards, the most on a singe carry vs. the Steelers this season.

Even with the injuries to the Steelers O-Line I assumed the Patriots pass rush would continue to fail to get to the quarterback. I know, I know -- I was wrong. The Patriots recorded a season-high five sacks (endless blitzing and welcome back Pat Chung) and Big Ben was flushed out of the pocket the entire night. 

Nobody shops at the Staggering Overreaction Store (try the new location in Burlington) more than yours truly. Probably I should have been a little more measured when it came to Wes Welker but I absolutely thought the combination of the ACL and no Randy Moss meant that -- for 2010, at least -- we were looking at just a whole bunch of the three-catch, 22-yard kind of games that we've seen from Welker the last month. Instead on Sunday we saw the guy who caught more passes in a three-year span than any player in history. He made eight catches for 89 yards, but it was more than that. For the first time this season he looked like Welker. Third-down catches, picking up yards after the catch, even going deep (for Welker, anyway) to pick up a 26-yard grab in the third quarter. Meanwhile Moss had a whopping one catch to help the Titans lose to Tyler Thigpen and the Dolphins. 

Now, give me credit: I did feel that a certain tight end would be the Pats' best shot at moving the ball against the Steelers. I just had the wrong guy is all. OK, Aaron Hernandez had zero catches but he managed to extend his streak of getting verbally smacked around by Tom Brady to three straight games. Nope, it was of course Rob Gronkowski -- the Roy Munson Award winner vs. the Browns last week with his goal-line fumble and pooch kick fiasco -- who caught three touchdown passes to set a franchise record for most TDs by a rookie tight end.

It makes no sense, which means it makes all the sense in the world. Did I mention that I give up and admit I'm powerless when it comes to the Patriots?

But I have to think it was my firm belief that Tom Brady wouldn't have the time needed to make plays and keep the Pats in the game that cemented my status as a Patriots Know-Nothing (not to be confused with the hate-filled political movement of the 19th century of the same name). Brady will get most of the credit for this win and that's just how it goes -- he gets the blame when they lose. And he was plenty great on Sunday night: He finished 30-of-43 for 350 yards, three TD passes and a TD rush. He gave you all he greatest hits -- poise in the pocket, textbook play-action on a couple of big plays, an absolute bullet to Gronkowski on the first TD pass. I thought it was the best game Brady has played since 2007 and it moved him back to the front of the MVP race.

But it was the O-line that allowed Brady the time to make some of those plays, in another "Best of the Year" effort by a group that flat-out dominated the Steelers. Brady was untouched for the first 40 minutes of the game and spent the great majority of the game with the kind of time that allowed him to throw to his second and sometimes third options.

So there it is. My full confession. I thought this team was done after the Cleveland game. Of course, I thought they were the best team in the league the week leading up to the Cleveland game. And now I'm kind of thinking that again as Indy gets ready to come to town for the latest Biggest Game of the Season. Which means that I'll probably be ready to bury them again heading into the Thanksgiving game in Detroit. I'll never learn.

But at least I'm consistently wrong. Gotta be something to be said for that, right? Or am I wrong?