The San Francisco 49ers beat the Seattle Seahawks 36-24 on Thursday night, tying their first conference win of the season and moving into first place in the NFC West.

It was a much-needed win for the 49ers after suffering a disappointing 24-23 loss at home to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5. They were tasked with making a quick turnaround for a road race in a short week.

As had been the case during many of San Francisco’s first few games, the 49ers took an early lead but suffered some adversity as they struggled to close out the game. Ultimately, they did what needed to be done late in the fourth quarter, playing complementary football en route to the Week 6 win.

Here are three quick insights from the 49ers 36-24 win over the Seahawks.

The defense delivers

While the final score shows 36 points for San Francisco, a season high, the defense really stepped up on Thursday.

The 49ers were dealt some tough news when starting cornerback Charvarius Ward was ruled out after pre-game warmups, giving rookie Renardo Green his first extended action, while Deommodore Lenoir and Isaac Yiadom took on bigger roles.

But the defense responded well to one of the more pass-heavy offenses in the league, shutting down top receiver DK Metcalf with three catches on 11 targets while Geno Smith was forced to throw 52 passes in the loss.

Star defensive end Nick Bosa was a real spark for the 49ers. He continually got into the backfield and disrupted the game as a one-man wrecking crew, despite not getting any sacks that night.

Top linebacker Fred Warner led the way with 11 tackles and made some nice plays in the open field, breaking up a pass late that he also nearly intercepted.

On the ground, running back Kenneth Walker, who entered Thursday averaging 5.5 yards per run, was limited to just 32 yards on 14 carries, while Seattle managed just 52 total yards on 20 carries that night.

The defense needed a dominant performance, and they got it on Thursday, overcoming some minor issues to put together a strong body of work.

Red Zone

It feels like the red zone has become a hot topic every week, and this week was no different as the 49ers issues were carried over again.

The 49ers entered the game as the league’s 29th-best red zone offense and had multiple scoring opportunities in the first half, getting five drives, four of which ended deep in Seattle territory.

The results? Field goal, Point, Touchdown, Field goal, Field goal.

To make matters worse, San Francisco’s only two red zone attempts resulted in field goals, while a third drive ended just outside Seattle’s 20-yard line, with new kicker Matthew Wright settling for another field goal.

The woes finally began to dissipate in the second half, as San Francisco scored on three consecutive red zone drives, with George Kittle catching two touchdowns, while Kyle Juszczyk pulled in the game-sealing score for a score late in the fourth quarter.

The 49ers have had tremendous success targeting Kittle in the red zone this year, as Brock Purdy has completed 10/11 passes for five touchdowns to his tight end through the first six weeks, which is a much greater success than at any other recipient. .

San Francisco needs to get Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk more involved in the red zone as they look to solve some of their issues, and that happened in the second half, leading to positive results.

Rookies shine

With injuries across the board, the 49ers and head coach Kyle Shanahan had to rely on rookies to answer the bell on Thursday, and they did so in strong fashion.

Fourth-round pick Malik Mustapha earned the start in place of the injured Talanoa Hufanga and pulled off an interception in a big way on the game’s first drive, saving Seattle from scoring. Mustapha also had a tackle for loss in the win before making an early exit due to injury.

Second-round pick Renardo Green played a majority of the cornerback snaps and had some big plays Thursday, with a big interception deep in Seattle territory helping extend the 49ers’ lead in the fourth quarter. Green also had multiple pass breakups while getting a good amount of coverage.

Third-round pick Dominick Puni has continued his rise as an NFL starter, and he once again had a solid game, even excelling in run blocking with a nice lead block on the Isaac Guerendo 76-yard rush that helped the to spice up the competition. late in the fourth quarter.

Guerendo, on the other hand, had his first big moment when he filled in for injured running back Jordan Mason and went for 99 yards on 10 carries, including 76 on a big stretch.

The 49ers needed their rookie class to contribute this year, and that’s exactly what they’re doing through the first third of the season.