After ending the previous week on the bench, Ahmad Brooks finished Sunday with the ball.

On the final defensive play of the 49ers’ 17-13 win over Washington, the outside linebacker caught Robert Griffin’s fumble in mid-air after the quarterback was blindsided by defensive tackle Justin Smith.

Brook’s caught the ball at Washington’s seven-yard line and initially began running before falling to the ground.

I was actually trying to get a touchdown,” Brooks said. “But one of my teammates, I think it was Ray (McDonald) told me to ‘Get down, get down’ so I went down.”

Brooks, of course, wasn’t as compliant in a 16-10 win over the Giants. He was benched for the second half after he yelled at defensive line coach Jim Tomsula because rookie Aaron Lynch was taking many of his snaps.

On Sunday, Brooks received the majority of the playing time, but Lynch did collect his fourth sack in five games. Brooks finished with three tackles.

“Last week I was selfish,” Brooks said. “This week I was selfless.”

Smith’s sacks: Not surprisingly, Aldon Smith vs. Morgan Moses was a mismatch.

In his second game back from a nine-game suspension, Smith had two sacks against Moses, a rookie third-round pick making his first career start in place of injured Pro Bowler Trent Williams. In the second quarter, Smith bull-rushed Moses several yards back into Griffin, who threw incomplete.

“I try to play aggressive and make the guy I’m going against feel it,” Smith said. “I was able to get my hands in the right spot and push him back.”

In addition to his sacks, Smith had four of the eight hits on Griffin. Still, he believes he’s not in peak form after a few near-misses.

“Two sacks is good,” he said, “but I could have made some more plays.”

Smith dislocated his left middle finger on his bull-rush of Moses. It was “pretty weird looking” but he managed to pop it back into place himself.

Dr. Aldon Smith?

“Yeah,” he said, smiling, “life after football.”

Another David dud: Vernon Davis wasn’t invisible, but it’s not clear if that represented progress.

After he had two catches or fewer in four straight games, the Pro Bowl tight end had three catches for 21 yards. However, he stopped his route too soon on two of his catches and ended up short of a first down. He also dropped what would have been a 20-yard completion in the third quarter.

“I think they did a good job as far as getting me in the game plan,” Davis said. “Some of those plays didn’t work out.

Davis missed two games with injuries (ankle, back) early in the season, but has said he feels good and has played in six straight games.

On Sunday, he walked gingerly to his locker.

“A little sore,” he said.

Briefly: Colin Kaepernick’s third-quarter interception snapped a streak of 131 passes without a pick. Alex Smith owns the franchise record (249). … Kaepernick has thrown a touchdown pass in 18 straight games, tying Steve Young’s franchise record.

Twitter: @Eric_Branch