SEATTLE -- Cradling the football in the crook of his left arm, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris extended his right arm as Seattle cornerback Riq Woolen closed in early in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 30-23 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
Harris pushed him away, but Woolen kept coming. That's when Harris reached out again, this time firmly planting his right hand on Woolen and shoving him into the ground.
Harris danced past Woolen as he tumbled, turning the play into a first down as the Steelers fought to extend their four-point lead and close out the game.
It was the kind of play the Steelers envisioned being the backbone of their offensive identity all season, the kind of play that embodies the entire organization's identity, the kind of play that made the Steelers draft Harris in the first round three years ago.
"I know Najee's such a big physical guy," right tackle Broderick Jones said. "I always knew he had that in him. It's just hard to stop him once he catches his stride and his speed. It's hard to bring him down. So it was good just seeing him out in space today. Being physical, making the right plays, making the right cuts."
That run added eight yards to a landmark day for Harris and the run game in a win that kept the Steelers' playoff hopes alive and continued Mike Tomlin's 17-year stretch of never having a losing season. Harris finished with 122 rushing yards, his season high and second most in a game, while Jaylen Warren had 75 yards. All told, the Steelers rushed for 202 yards, three shy of their season-best 205 against the Green Bay Packers in Week 10.
"He ran like I'd never seen him run before," left tackle Dan Moore Jr. said of Harris. "I saw him stiff arm a D-lineman. That was crazy. You get runs like that, he feeds off of it, and you pop a few, and he gets confidence, and that's all we want."
And it's exactly what the Steelers need out of Harris and the offense with a Week 18 meeting against the Baltimore Ravens, who already locked up the AFC's top seed, on the horizon with their playoff hopes hanging in the balance.
In the week leading up to the Seattle game, Tomlin challenged the Steelers offense to play with physicality, to show fight when they stepped on the field in one of the loudest and most hostile environments in the NFL. The Steelers responded with their most dominant offensive performance of the season.
"You just got to impose your will as an offensive line," Jones said. "Just being able to impose your will and just show the defensive line, no matter what you do, we're going to move you. So that's a big part of it. And once you do that a couple times, they really don't want that anymore. So you just got to keep pounding them, getting them out the way. Just being physical, being nasty. That's what O-line is."
The best example of that physicality came as Harris got into the end zone for the second time -- only his second multiple rushing touchdown game of his career -- when the offensive line and all three tight ends pushed him four yards into the end zone.
"Props have to go that O-line," Steelers defensive captain Cameron Heyward said. "The O-line did an amazing job today blocking, finishing runs. It was a complete offensive performance. You tip your hats to our offense. I know some weeks are tougher than others, but when they have a week like this, they need to be shouted out because every one of those guys -- there was a couple times I could tell Broderick to calm down -- but you love that grittiness and that fire from a young guy and the rest of the group because they led the way."
Before the game, Harris was stretching on the field when he was surprised by a familiar face. Seahawks legend and fellow Bay Area native Marshawn Lynch, a close friend and mentor of Harris, enveloped the Steelers running back in a big hug.
"It's always good to see Marshawn," Harris said. "Pretty much the guys that's in my circle really. They were all there at the game. This is a place obviously that's close to home so a lot of guys were able to make it."
Harris, who spent part of his childhood in Seattle, laughed at the idea that he was channeling Lynch on the field, but his physical runs were reminiscent of Lynch's signature "Beast Mode" style as he ran through tackles and stiff-armed defenders to the ground. Like Harris, Warren also slipped through tackles en route to a big afternoon. In total, the Seahawks defense gave up 132 rushing yards after contact, their most in a game since 2014. And that mark was the Steelers' second-most yards after contact in a game since ESPN began tracking the stat in 2009.
"It's real fun because we're moving the chains, and we're doing our thing," Warren said. "It makes the defense pack up the box, which we can fit our receiver from that point on and then we just bomb over."
Quarterback Mason Rudolph did just that in his second start of the season, complementing the run game with an efficient passing game that took advantage of the single-high safety looks. He showed poise in the pocket as he progressed through his reads to make the right throws. He didn't throw a touchdown, but he also didn't turn the ball over and passed for 274 yards as the Steelers offense scored 30 points. With Rudolph at quarterback, the Steelers are averaging 32 points and 432.5 yards of offense.
"Mason's done a great job," Jones said. "He comes in with the spark; he's not timid. He's been doing it for a long time, so he was just waiting on the shot. He's taking full advantage of it."
Rudolph had the most success targeting Diontae Johnson and George Pickens, hitting Johnson for a 42-yard completion and connecting with Pickens for gains of 37, 34 and 24 yards. Pickens finished with 131 receiving yards, marking the first time the Steelers had a 100-yard rusher and a 100-yard receiver in the same game on the road since Week 6 of 2018 at the Bengals when James Conner was the rusher and Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster were the receivers, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
"I think that we're doing a good job right now of knowing what we're doing," Harris said. "Not every game is going to look like this. ... Not every time is going to be amazing and great plays and great performances, but if we just stick together like we did and really just believe and execute the game plan, I think that things like this will show up."