On the San Francisco 49ers' first defensive snap Sunday, rookie tackle Gracen Halton was driven 3 yards backward by left guard Grey Zabel and left tackle Charles Cross on a 7-yard scamper by running back Emanuel Wilson.
After the whistle, Zabel continued the bullying by pushing Halton in the back. Halton's response: He dug his right shoulder in Zabel's chest and had an animated facemask-to-facemask conversation with the 2025 first-round pick.
Talk about setting the tone and sending the message: These 49ers weren't going to be pushed around.
After two humiliating January losses to Seattle (combined score: Seahawks 54, 49ers 9), the 49ers beat their tormentors 32-29, doing so in a completely unexpected way.
After being limited to three field goals in their previous two meetings, the 49ers didn't win because they finally solved Seattle defensive-mastermind head coach Mike Macdonald and his sack-happy, turnover-causing unit. They won because their own defense, which entered with six sacks and two takeaways in four games, resembled Macdonald's vaunted unit by collecting five sacks, forcing four turnovers and scoring a touchdown.
Who needs Nick Bosa?
Yes, NFL MVP candidate quarterback Brock Purdy and Hall of Fame candidate wide receiver Mike Evans had some late magic, but the 49ers would have been blown out again by their NFC West rivals if not for a host of young non-marquee defensive players.
Consider two statistical nuggets from the Associated Press' Josh Dubow: The 49ers won a game in which they had at least three turnovers and fewer than 270 yards for the first time since 1997 because they had at least three sacks and four takeaways from players age 25 or younger for the first time since at least 1991.
A preseason storyline: Could the 49ers' recent draft picks help ease the burden from all their 30-something stars? They sure did Sunday. And they set the tone immediately.
After that first defensive snap in which Halton was manhandled, rookie linebacker Jaden Dugger, 22, lined up at left defensive end, dipped under right tackle Abe Lucas and dropped QB Sam Darnold for a 7-yard sack. The next play: Cornerback Renardo Green, 25, intercepted Darnold to set up an 18-yard touchdown drive.
After Dugger's sack, the fifth-round pick put his right index finger to his facemask, instructing the crowd to shush. After Green's interception, he raced to the end zone, looked in the stands and pounded his chest.
The tone-setting puppy patrol was still feeling it eight minutes later on a Seahawks' three-and-out drive: First down: Dugger stopped Wilson for no gain. Second down: Defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez, 24, sacked Darnold. Third down: Rookie defensive end Romello Height, 25, zipped by Cross on a speed rush and pressured Darnold's blindside on an incompletion.
Green (two interceptions) co-starred with Halton, the No. 107 pick in April who became the second rookie in franchise history to have a sack and a touchdown in a game. After Halton crashed through center Jalen Sundell, knocked the ball from running back George Holani and recovered the fumble in the end zone seconds before halftime, the 49ers led 21-13.
Their 21 points in two quarters were just five fewer than they'd scored in 12 quarters against Seattle last season. But their points came via Halton and on touchdown drives of 18 and 11 yards set up by takeaways.
In the first 42 minutes, the 49ers gained 133 yards and had nearly as many punts (five) as first downs (six). They didn't find a solution to Macdonald's bruising defense Sunday, but they did discover their own defense could win a game of bully ball.
• Macdonald, of course, was taking bows after his previous two meetings with the 49ers.
Since Sunday's game, the only head coach to win a Super Bowl while serving as a defensive play caller has taken pointed questions about his strategy: Why did he continue to allow cornerback Josh Jobe to cover Evans without assistance?
Evans (seven catches, 113 yards, TD, two-point conversion) did most of his damage against Jobe (5-11, 190), who was surrendering 6 inches and 41 pounds to the six-time Pro Bowl pick. Evans had five catches for 75 yards, his touchdown and his two-point conversion against Jobe, who also was called for pass interference on Evans on the 49ers' first two-point try.
On Sunday, Macdonald dismissed the idea the Seahawks should have done anything differently.
"No," he said. "The guy (Evans) is a great receiver. We're trying to cover him."
On Monday, however, Macdonald struck a different note. Evans had three catches for 60 yards on Jobe on the 49ers' 74-yard touchdown drive that gave them a 29-26 lead late in the fourth quarter. The 49ers' other three available wideouts: Jacob Cowing, Jordan Watkins and Brandin Cooks.
"I understand it's frustrating to see that," Macdonald said. "Frankly, it's a fair criticism. But I can tell you we're trying to make the best decision in real-time that we can. … Sometimes as a play caller, you nail it and you feel great because your player is in a great spot. Sometimes you don't and your player isn't in the optimum spot. That happens sometimes."
• After hellacious-hitting safety Malik Mustapha, 24, dislodged a completion from wide receiver Rashid Shaheed in the second quarter, Fox's Kevin Burkhardt exclaimed, "Holy cow, Malik Mustapha, like a missile."
Said Kyle Shanahan after the game: "He's a missile out there."
Mustapha's nickname at Wake Forest: "The Nigerian Missile."
Mustapha suffered a severe hamstring injury in training camp, lost his starting job to Marques Sigle and made his first start of the season Sunday because Sigle was out with a high ankle sprain.
Here's a prediction: Mustapha isn't going back to the bench.
Mustapha channeled the best of his promising 2024 rookie season by also breaking up would-be completions to wideouts Cooper Kupp and Jaxon Smith-Njigba with shot-from-a-cannon blows before he sealed the win by belting Kupp out of bounds on a 9-yard reception on 4th-and-10 from midfield with just under a minute left.
Three plays earlier, Mustapha's shot on Smith-Njigba was vital. After Mustapha whacked him to break up a first-down pass, the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year rose very slowly and went to the sideline for a snap with the game on the line. When he returned, Smith-Njigba dropped a deep third-down pass before Mustapha punctuated his violent performance with his fourth-down tackle.
"Doesn't ever break stride and goes through people," Shanahan said. "He's a physical presence out there."
• So that's why the 49ers didn't re-sign punter Thomas Morstead.
The offseason decision to not bring back Morstead qualified as a surprise partly because the 49ers replaced the 17-year veteran with well-traveled Corliss Waitman, 31, who had only played three full NFL seasons.
On Sunday, Waitman was stellar, and saved the 49ers' special-teams performance - which included a muffed punt, missed 52-yard field goal and 39-yard kickoff return from Shaheed - from earning an F.
With the first-half offense going nowhere, Waitman was their best weapon: On his first four punts, he forced fair catches from Shaheed, one of the NFL's most dynamic returners, at the 11-, 18-, 8- and 9-yard line. Waitman's fifth punt was downed at the 4-yard line, setting up Halton's forced fumble and a touchdown one snap later.
Waitman has placed 56.3% of his punts inside the 20-yard line, ranking sixth in the NFL.
After Shanahan recognized Evans and Green in the locker room, he acknowledged Waitman was deserving.
"He's probably another guy we could have given (a) game ball to," he said.
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There’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at 49ers game review: How Gracen Halton and defense's recent draft picks saved the day in Seattle.