In spite of a slow start offensively and no George Pickens, the Pittsburgh Steelers are now 10-3 and hold a commanding two-game lead over the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC North lead after a 27-14 win over the Cleveland Browns.

The Steelers sleepwalked through the first quarter. The offense did nothing with the opening drive despite getting into first-and-five after an offside penalty on Cleveland on the first play of the game. They then forced the Browns to punt from their own end zone and were gifted great field position in Browns territory, but the drive ended like far too many of the Steelers’ drives in the red zone this season – with a field goal. The Browns took the lead on a Jameis Winston 35-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy, and it looked as if Pittsburgh would be in for a long afternoon. However, as Tony Romo pointed out on the broadcast, the Steelers are an excellent second-quarter team, and the came alive and never looked back. After three consecutive three-and-outs, a Keeanu Benton interception set the Steelers up in plus territory. Five plays later, Najee Harris gave the Steelers a 10-7 lead that they wouldn’t give back. Another Chris Boswell field goal and a missed kick from Dustin Hopkins from the Browns had the Steelers ahead 13-7 at the half. Hopkins missed a second field goal on the first drive of the second half, and the Steelers answered with a touchdown from Russell Wilson to Van Jefferson on a great call by Arthur Smith that saw Wilson run an RPO, keep the ball, run to his right and fire a dart to No. 11 to put Pittsburgh up 20-7. Another Wilson dart to Pat Freiermuth capped off the Steelers’ scoring and put them up 27-7. A late touchdown had the Browns clinging to life, put James Pierre pulled the plug with a pick to end it.

In terms of things to like, the way the offense rebounded after the slow star is near the top of the list – especially without George Pickens. It wasn’t gorgeous by any means. Wilson only went 15-of-26 for 158 yards, but he threw two touchdowns and didn’t turn the ball over. The likes of Scotty Miller really stepped up when called upon, as he had his best day as a Steeler with three catches, including a 21-yard catch late in the fourth quarter to extend a drive. Mike Williams had a 22-yard one-handed catch on third down that set up the Freiermuth score. Jaylen Warren also had a nice day, totaling 62 yards on 11 touches. The offense used the sum of its parts and put up 27 in a game without Pickens, which is impressive to say the least. Defensively, big days from Alex Highsmith, Elandon Roberts, and Cam Heyward elevated the rest of the unit – really good showing from those three in particular. ben Skowronek had the almost weekly special teams splash by by recovering a Kadarius Toney fumble, as well as drawing a 15-yard penalty on Toney for throwing the ball at him.

Things not to like? The insistent usage Cordarrelle Patterson. Those touches should be exclusively for Harris and Warren, and that was further proved today with Patterson totaling three yards on four carries and a fumble. The lackluster situational play-calling early on was woeful. The Steelers had a second-and-one early in the game. They then ran a toss that lost a yard and then threw a 50-50 ball to Scotty Miller – not ideal. The defense also had multiple third-and-longs that may as well have been third-and-one. Winston’s touchdown pass to Jeudy came on third-and-nine and went for 35 yards to the end zone. Dumb penalties were a factory when Joey Porter Jr. swatted at Jerry Jeudy and got a 15-yard penalty in return. Dumb mental errors like that can’t happen on either side of the ball.

In all, though, the Steelers are now one of just six teams in the league with 10+ wins and they eliminated the Browns from playoff contention in the process. Now, they get set for a trip to Philadelphia – a place they have been blown by a combined score of 69-16 out in their last two trips and haven’t won since 1965. This season has been about proving people wrong, so how fitting would it be to do it again next Sunday?