Running back Lance Ball recovered a fumble on a muffed punt to give the Broncos the ball inside the red zone.

On the first play of the drive, defensive pass interference occurred in the end zone, moving Denver up to the 1-yard line.

A play later, fullback Jacob Hester barreled his way across the goal line, giving Denver a 31-6 lead.

With the score, the Broncos have posted 30 points for the 10th time this year, tying New England for the most in the NFL and most in club history (1998, 2000).

Near the end of the third quarter in Sunday’s game against Cleveland, wideout Demaryius Thomas topped the 100-yard mark for the ninth time of his career.

On the game, he has nine catches, which ties a career high, for 102 yards and a touchdown. The TD was his ninth of the season.

He has gone over 100 yards six times this year.

The Broncos offense was given the ball inside Browns territory at the 48-yard line after the defense forced a Cleveland three-and-out.

Quarterback Peyton Manning converted on a third down with a 7-yard pass to wideout Brandon Stokley, and then hit wideout Demaryius Thomas for a 21-yard gain. The completion to Thomas put the wide receiver over 100 yards.

After Thomas’ catch, however, the drive stalled and Matt Prater kicked a 27-yard field goal.

It was an eight-play, 39-yard drive that extended the Denver lead to 24-6.

The Denver offense is 9-of-12 on third downs on the afternoon.

Two plays from scrimmage after Peyton Manning tied Brett Favre for the most three-touchdown passing games in NFL history, linebacker Von Miller re-wrote the Broncos record books.

On third-and-10, Miller sped past a Cleveland offensive lineman and sacked quarterback Brandon Weeden. It gave Miller 17.5 sacks on the year, breaking the previous team record of 17 sacks in a single season, which was previously held by defensive end Elvis Dumervil.

With eight multi-sack games, Miller is tied for the second-highest total in NFL history through a player’s first two years.

After the Browns kicked a 53-yard field goal, the Broncos offense got to work from their own 9-yard line.

A pair of 9-yard completions to receivers Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas got the drive started.
On third down from their own 37, quarterback Peyton Manning found tight end Jacob Tamme crossing through the middle of the field. Tamme hit the sideline and gained 33 yards, moving the offense down to the Cleveland 30-yard line.

A play later, wideout Brandon Stokley caught a pass off the hands of Decker, and then running back Knowshon Moreno picked up another first down with an 11-yard burst.

On first-and-goal from the 8, Manning hooked up with Decker for their second touchdown of the game, putting Denver ahead 21-6.

It was Manning’s third touchdown pass of the game – his 72nd career game with three passing touchdowns, which tied Brett Favre for the most in NFL history.

His 34 passing touchdowns on the year are the second-most he has ever thrown for in a single season.
For Decker, who caught his second touchdown of the game, it his third multi-touchdown game in his career. He has six catches for 65 yards.

The touchdown drive took 6:36 and covered 91 yards on 12 plays.

Coming out of halftime, Browns running back Trent Richardson helped move the offense out to midfield on a pair of tough runs up the middle, picking up 14 and 9 yards.

Cleveland advanced 15 yards with an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Broncos after quarterback Brandon Weeden scrambled and was hit on a slide.

The Browns would not gain another first down on the drive, however, as the Denver defense stuffed Richardson, forced an incompletion and then sacked Weeden on third down.

The sack was credited to linebacker Von Miller — who was held on the play — and defensive end Elvis Dumervil. With another half-sack, Miller will have 17 on the season to tie fellow-edge rusher Dumervil for the most single-season sacks in Broncos history.

After the sack, kicker Phil Dawson converted on a 53-yard field goal to get his team within one possession at 14-6.

With just under five minutes remaining in the half, the Denver offense drove nearly 90 yards down the field, but it ended with an interception in the end zone. After the pick, Cleveland’s Brandon Weeden kneeled out the rest of the clock and the teams entered halftime with Denver up 14-3.

The interception just before halftime was the lone blemish of the game so far for quarterback Peyton Manning, who was 19-of-27 for 221 yards and two touchdowns for a quarterback rating of 104.1

Running back Knowshon Moreno gained has 38 yards on the ground and 38 yards receiving for a total of 76 all-purpose yards on 15 touches. He is the game’s leading rusher.

Wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker each have more receiving yards than any Browns receiver. Thomas leads the way with 67 and a touchdown and Decker has 48 and a touchdown.

Safety Mike Adams has broken up a pair of passes and made two solo tackles in his first game against his former team.

Cornerback Tracy Porter suffered a concussion in the first quarter and has been ruled out for the game.

Browns defensive back Sheldon Brown suffered a head injury in the first half and is out for the game.

Quarterback Brandon Weeden has been ruled out with a right shoulder injury.

Check back to this blog for further injury updates.

Following the Cleveland field goal, the Denver offense began its second possession of the game from its own 20-yard line.

Running back Knowshon Moreno picked up 8 yards on the first play, and quarterback Peyton Manning and wide out Demaryius Thomas picked up right where they left off on the last drive as they connected for a 6-yard first down.

Completions to wide receiver Eric Decker and tight end Joel Dreessen helped Denver work its way to midfield.

The reception by Dreessen was his 37th catch of the season, giving the tight end a new career high in that category.

From the Cleveland 29-yard line, an offensive holding penalty backed the Broncos up to the 39, where they began the second quarter.

Facing a first-and-20, Moreno ran the ball twice and then caught a pass, picking up 14 yards to give Manning and the offense a manageable third-down situation, needing 6 yards to move the chains.

Denver got the 6 yards and a few more, as Manning hit Decker – their second first-down connection of the drive – for a 14-yard pick up to the Cleveland 11-yard line.

Following a short run and an incomplete pass, the Broncos took their first timeout of the half before a third-and-9 play from the 10-yard line.

The timeout worked, as Manning hit wideout Eric Decker in the back of the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown, capping off a 15-play, 80-yard drive that absorbed 6:55 of clock.

Manning is 12-of-14 for 120 yards and two touchdowns — good for a passer rating 142.0.

The score and extra point conversion made the score 14-3 Broncos with 12:40 left in the second quarter.
Decker caught two first downs and a touchdown – his 10th of the season — on the drive. He (33) and Thomas (67) have combined for 100 yards receiving in the game.

After the Broncos struck first, Cleveland responded with a scoring drive on its first possession.

It began on the Browns 28-yard line, and running back Trent Richardson carried the ball on three of the first five plays to gain 18 yards.

To cross midfield, quarterback Brandon Weeden hit tight end Benjamin Watson for a first-down completion of 13 yards, and a play later the pair connected again for 15 yards.

Cleveland picked up one more first down and moved into the red zone, but on the following series, the drive stalled.

On third-and-goal from the 9-yard line, Weeden tried to hit wide receiver Josh Cooper, but safety Mike Adams – who spent the last five years in Cleveland – hit the receiver as the ball arrived to force an incompletion.

Kicker Phil Dawson converted on a 27-yard field goal on the next play to make the score 7-3 with 4:35 remaining in the first quarter.