‘Thursday Night Football’ highlights: 49ers defeat Seahawks 36-24

Ballgame!

The 49ers are back in first place in the NFC West after this win, with the tiebreaker over the Seahawks for now. Nice job by San Francisco, which held on after Seattle got to within one score in the fourth quarter.

The Seahawks have now lost two in a row after a 3-1 start.

After a 76-yard run by Isaac Guerendo got the 49ers all the way to Seattle’s six-yard line, Kyle Juszcyzk iced the game with a touchdown run.

After a 15-play, 70-yard drive, it’s a one score game again.

Geno Smith found Tyler Lockett on 4th-and-goal to make it 29-24.

Only three plays after picking off Geno Smith, the 49ers are in the end zone.

George Kittle caught a nine-yard pass on third down for his second score of the game.

Oh no!

Geno Smith’s second interception is incredibly costly. Backed up in his own territory, Smith made a poor throw over the middle to DK Metcalf, and it was picked off by Renardo Green.

The 49ers drove right to the very edge of field-goal range, but couldn’t pick up any yards on 3rd-and-9 from the Seahawks 40. San Francisco then decided to punt.

Seattle will take over on its own three-yard line trailing 23-17. Does Geno Smith have one more long touchdown drive in him?

Seattle was lucky to get the ball after a near-snafu on a punt to open the quarter. (It looked like the 49ers recovered the ball after a receiving-team touch but replay ruled against them.) The Seahawks couldn’t do anything with the break, though, punting after five plays.

The 49ers will take over on offense leading 23-17.

Only 7 yards in three plays for the Niners, who are going to punt once the fourth quarter starts.

The Seahawks, who’ve scored 14 unanswered points, will take over trailing 23-17.

Seattle looked dead in the water trailing 23-3 with nothing going on offense. But a kickoff return for a score and a long drive have changed this game. Will the 49ers blow another double-digit lead? Or can they regain control in the final frame?

We have a game!

What a drive — 13 plays, 94 yards capped with a Kenneth Walker III run from a yard out for the score. Geno Smith was great. He hit a couple big throws, including a 37-yarder to Tyler Lockett on third down while Seattle was on its own 21.

Set back by a holding penalty, the 49ers punted after four plays. Geno Smith and the Seahawks will have a long way to go, though. The punt was downed at Seattle’s 6-yard line.

Wow!

Seattle is right back in the game thanks to Laviska Shenault, who just took a kick 97 yards to the house. It’s redemption for Shenault, who fumbled a kickoff earlier in the game.

Remember when I said the Seahawks would regret not scoring a touchdown before halftime?

After settling for field goals on their first two red zone trips, the 49ers got into the red and then the end zone on their first drive of the second half, courtesy of a George Kittle 10-yard catch.

…and he ran the ball for nine yards on the first play of the second half. Kyle Shanahan said Mason is “good to go” after leaving earlier with a shoulder injury.

Eventful final drive of the half!

Geno Smith finally bounced back after an errant start, leading the Seahawks all the way to the 1-yard line, thanks in part to a pass interference penalty in the end zone. It was Smith’s best and most accurate drive of the game so far.

But Smith threw incomplete on his final three passes, and Seattle opted to kick a field goal instead of go for it on fourth down. The kick went in as time expired, so the 49ers will take a 16-3 lead into halftime.

Smith’s had a weird game.

He started 2 of 6, then completed 7 of 9 passes before the three straight incompletions before half.

The Seahawks could really, really come to regret not scoring from so close, because San Francisco will receive to open the third quarter with a chance to go up 20.

Starting from inside their own 10-yard line, the 49ers made it to the Seahawks’ 14 but could not pick up a 3rd-and-11. San Francisco hit its third field goal of the game to take a 16-0 lead.

Typically not great to settle for kicks, but the Seahawks haven’t shown anything on offense since their first drive.

The 49ers running back has been one of the leading rushers in the NFL in the absence of Christian McCaffrey. He’s questionable to return with a left shoulder injury, per the broadcast.

Thanks to a 15-yard screen pass and a Joey Bosa penalty, the Seahawks went from 2nd-and-23 to 3rd-and-3…but Geno Smith airmailed a wide-open Jaxon Smith-Njigba on third and Seattle couldn’t convert. Oof.

Could have been worse!

After fumbling a kickoff and setting up the 49ers inside their own territory, the Seahawks held them to only a field goal.

San Francisco has a 13-0 lead, but Seattle is somehow not in awful shape despite two turnovers and an ineffective offense. Now would be a great time for Geno Smith to put a drive together.

The 49ers have the lead and now the ball. On the kickoff following the Deebo Samuel touchdown, the Seahawks fumbled.

The Niners will take over inside Seattle territory with a 10-0 lead.

After a quick 3-and-out by the Seahawks, the 49ers scored one play later!

Brock Purdy found Deebo Samuel streaking down the left sideline for a 76-yard catch-and-score.

San Francisco now leads 10-0.

The 49ers couldn’t pick up a 3rd-and-2 and will punt after only three plays despite a nine-yard run from Jordan Mason on first down. Nice hold for the Seattle defense.

Geno Smith couldn’t find DK Metcalf on 3rd-and-10, and the Seahawks punted. Seattle picked up one first down on the drive, but Smith has been inaccurate — he’s completed only 2 of 6 passes so far.

The 49ers will take over on on their own 24 with a 3-0 lead.

The Niners made it all the way from inside their own 5-yard line to the Seahawks’ 7-yard line, but the drive stalled there. Brock Purdy made a couple nice throws to keep the drive moving. Jordan Mason also had a rumbling 38-yard run.

Purdy couldn’t convert on 3rd-and-goal, though. San Francisco now leads 3-0.

The Seahawks were driving, but Geno Smith overthrew Tyler Lockett on 3rd-and-5 from the 49ers 25-yard line, and was picked off inside the five.

The Seahawks start with the ball. Their first play from scrimmage is a three-yard run by Kenneth Walker III.

Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald knows his defense will have its hands full Thursday night against the 49ers’ vaunted offense.

Speaking on the “Brock and Salk” show Monday, Macdonald detailed how vicious San Francisco’s offense can be.

“If you’re not careful, they can gash you in a hurry,” Macdonald said (h/t Seattle Sports). “You can play 15 plays well in a row and the 16th play creases you … They’re a really good operation, have a ton of respect for those guys.

“I’ve been going against Kyle Shanahan since 2014. So, he’s familiar with what we do, we’re familiar with what he does, and we got to go out playing. That’s just the simple fact of the matter… The violence and precision on how they run their run game is really good. They hang their hat on what they do.”

Kyle Shanahan said the Jets’ decision this week to fire head coach Robert Saleh, a former defensive coordinator in San Francisco, caught him by surprise.

“I sent him a text but haven’t gotten to talk to him,” Shanahan said. “I was pretty shocked. That stuff throws you off, especially … [the Jets are] competing for first in the division this week and I think they’re up there on defense and they’ve got a pretty good team and chance to have a hell of a year. So it was pretty surprising.”

In speaking to reporters after the 49ers’ crushing 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Bosa discussed how Arizona’s offense was able to have much better success in the second half after struggling against San Francisco’s defense in the first two quarters.

“They were giving us a different look on the zone read,” Bosa said on Sunday. “I think in all our losses, the preparation we’ve had has been great. But teams are playing us different and doing things differently, and we need to adjust a little better.

“[They’re] just showing different looks than what we were looking at on tape. So [we] just got to adjust and get him down.”

With Jake Moody sidelined for multiple weeks with a high ankle sprain, the 49ers have signed veteran Matthew Kicker as their new field goal kicker.

Wright has previously spent time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs and Carolina Panthers. He’s hit 40 of 47 career field goals in his career.

The Seahawks have run the ball less often than any team other than the Titans so far this season and the Titans have played one less game than the NFC West club, so no one is running the ball less often on a weekly basis.

Their offensive imbalance was never greater than it was in their Week Five loss to the Giants. Ken Walker III had five carries and Zach Charbonnet had two carries — quarterback Geno Smith also ran four times after protection broke down — as the Seahawks relied heavily on the air game. They had some good moments, but also gave up seven sacks as the Giants picked up on the lack of dimensions to Seattle’s approach.

Walker ran for three touchdowns in Week 4, which made the approach more surprising but not out of left field. Walker only had four carries in the first half of that game, which was a loss to the Lions, and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said on Tuesday that he needs to do more to get the ball into Walker’s hands.

“I’ll own that,” Grubb said, via the team’s website. “Got to get the ball to Ken more. And I think we had plenty of run game in the plan, didn’t have anything to do with not having enough calls for that, just didn’t get called. And for us, we leaned on the wrong thing. And I think if we get Ken 10 more touches, 15 more touches, things are going to look different.”

Brock Purdy took responsibility for his game-sealing fourth-quarter interception in the 49ers’ 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the San Francisco quarterback was asked what was going through his mind during the play.

“I got hit and so I’m like, ‘All right, how did that happen with that we had on?’ and we had two guys come to the side of where our protection was set, and one guy was free,” Purdy said “So that’s on me in terms of getting the ball out and not holding onto it.

“So, in that situation when I was walking off and looking at the video board I was like, ‘Man, did I just miss a guy or did I just try to get to [Brandon] Aiyuk the whole time and not see the blitz?’ So, in that moment that’s what I was thinking about, and I wish I would have executed it differently.”

Kyle Shanahan is known as one of the best coaches in the NFL but he has one thing going against him: a history of late losses. In a Week 5 loss to the Cardinals, San Francisco was up 10 points midway through the fourth but a fumble by running back Jordan Mason and an interception by Brock Purdy kept Arizona in the game.

This came two weeks after blowing a 24-14 lead in the fourth quarter to the Rams. It was the sixth time the 49ers have blown a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter of a regular season or playoff game under Shanahan.

“It’s super frustrating,” All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams told members of the media after the game. “Obviously, we have to figure out how to close out games and how to get teams out early when we have the chance.”