Defense makes Arizona work this time.

Defense atones for blowout loss at Arizona in September

SANTA CLARA — The end result was the same, but it was a different defensive team on the field for the 49ers on Sunday in a 1913 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at Levi’s Stadium.

An Arizona team that raced to a 31-7 halftime lead en route to a 47-7 win in the desert on Sept. 27 was made to work for its points in the rematch.

Victory wasn’t secured until Carson Palmer ran 8 yards around left end for the game-winning touchdown with 2:28 to play, a drive kept alive by a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty on Quinton Dial.

The Cardinals’ other score, a 1-yard run by David Johnson, came in part courtesy of five 49ers penalties — an offside, an illegal use of hands and three calls for pass interference. In all, Arizona ran nine plays at or near the 49ers’ goal line before Johnson finally broke through.

“I think for us to respond like that after losing the way we did the first game says a lot about this team,” inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman said. “I’m happy about the way we played, but we have no moral victories. We can definitely build on this.”

Palmer completed 24 of 40 passes for 271 yards and was sacked once but wasn’t the smooth operator he was in Arizona. In the first game, he was 27 of 32 for 311 yards and two touchdowns.

“They came to fight, and that’s what we’re going to get being on top the way we are,” Palmer said. “We’re going to get everybody’s best shots.”

Third-year safety Eric Reid, like Bowman, was encouraged by the 49ers’ performance.

“We can do what it takes to win games. We just have to come out and play like this consistently,” Reid said. “If we play like this, we can win some games.”

Bowman said film of the earlier debacle against the Cardinals gave a blueprint of how to better deal with Palmer and the Cardinals offense.

“We were disguising, giving him a lot of different looks,” Bowman said. “You don’t really know how good a person is until you’ve played them, and we watched the film. You hear him talk, he knows what you’re in. He’s pretty good at getting the ball to the right guy.

“Giving him different looks on early downs I think is a key to getting him off his spot.”

Cardinals running back Chris Johnson, who had 142 yards and two touchdowns in the first meeting, gained 17 yards on 12 carries.

This came a week after Seattle undrafted free agent Thomas Rawls rushed for 209 yards against the 49ers.

“Last week we didn’t come to stop the run, which we pride ourselves on,” 49ers rookie linebacker Eli Harold said. “Since I got drafted here, it’s ‘stop the run, stop the run.’ Coming into this week we stressed it a lot. Tackle the ball, get after the ball.”

Coach Jim Tomsula talked of the 49ers tackling “tentatively” after the Seattle game and had no such complaints against Arizona.

“Today, we went after the tackles,” Tomsula said. “We didn’t break down. We saw that stuff that we emphasized in practice. We saw the getting after it. You saw the pursuit and the tackling.”

Arizona wide receiver Michael Floyd said it was obvious the first game had stuck with the 49ers.

“They probably had a chip on their shoulder,” Floyd said. “They felt embarrassed from the 47-7 game in Arizona so they weren’t going to let that happen again.”