In an AFC North matchup without their top pass-catching weapon in wide receiver George Pickens, the Pittsburgh Steelers faced a typically tough loss to a bad team, the Cleveland Browns.

But when things got tight, quarterback Russell Wilson delivered.

When the Steelers played the Browns without Pickens because the third-year receiver suffered a hamstring injury in practice last Friday, the Steelers’ offense was a bit of a mess early on without the standout receiver drawing much attention defensively. Wilson also seemed out of sync and missed several early throws, including a shot down the field to Mike Williams.

But in the end, Wilson calmed down even without his buddy and made some great throws in the third quarter that helped the Steelers win the game while also answering a big question moving forward against a good defense.

For former NFL scout and current analyst John Middlekauff, who appeared on the Colin Cowherd podcast Sunday night, Wilson’s performance was impressive.

“I thought today was a really big moment for Russell because like you said, I mean George Pickens, it was a little bit like (Karl) Malone in (John) Stockton and that was his guy,” Middlekauff said of the, according to video Show’s YouTube page. “And then if you remove him early, the Browns are clearly going to play very well against those teams in the division.”

It was a real mess at the start for Wilson and the Steelers. Despite an early field goal push thanks to great ground work from running back Najee Harris, the Steelers couldn’t generate much offensively, going three-and-out on four of their first five possessions.

The receivers had trouble gaining the lead and Wilson rarely had a chance to throw the football. When the guys were open, Wilson wasn’t sharp. It was very similar to the start of the game against the New York Jets in Week 7.

Like in this game, Wilson finally settled in. This happened in the second half when the Steelers really got going offensively. Wilson found Mike Williams for 22 yards with a great back-shoulder throw that led to a one-handed catch by Williams. Wilson also found tight end Pat Freiermuth for 21 yards on a third-down scramble, then later hit Van Jefferson for a 10-yard touchdown and capped the day with a great 20-yard strike that found Freiermuth for a touchdown Seam placed.

Without Pickens, the offense struggled through the air for much of the game. But when it mattered most, Wilson made throws and his weapons made plays.

This leads to Middlekauff taking the Steelers pretty seriously going forward.

“I was impressed today because early on I thought Cleveland was coming to play,” Middlekauff added, referring to the Steelers. “Jameis (Winston) made some plays. Cleveland is confident against Pittsburgh. They just beat her a few weeks ago. You think, “Ugh, this is going to be a terrible loss.”

“And they kind of hit the Jets and all of a sudden they were up a couple touchdowns and never looked back.”

It had the makings of a bad home loss to a bad team, which is what has happened to the Steelers at times under Mike Tomlin. But it wasn’t to be as Wilson found his groove and the offense took off. Doing that without their standout receiver was impressive and should cause people to take the Steelers seriously in the future.