Baltimore — If the Broncos can hold serve, they would have a first-round playoff bye — and most likely would host the New England Patriots in a second-round game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in mid-January.

The Broncos won their ninth game in a row and improved their record to 11-3 by whipping the Baltimore Ravens, 34-17, here Sunday. The win clinched no worse than the No. 3 playoff seed for the Broncos.

The Patriots, meanwhile, just lost a wild one to the San Francisco 49ers, 41-34, dropping their record to 10-4. The Broncos now have the AFC’s second-best record. Houston, at 12-2, need only to win one of its final two games — home against Adrian Peterson’s Vikings next Sunday, and then at Indianapolis on Dec. 30 — to clinch the No. 1 seed.

All the Broncos have to do now is beat the 5-9 Cleveland Browns and 2-12 Kansas City Chiefs in their final two games and the No. 2 seed will be theirs.

The No. 2 seed gets a first-round bye and second-round home game. Win that one and they play in the AFC championship. The No. 3 seed plays in the first round at home, and if it wins plays a second-round game on the road.

Baltimore — Come the fourth quarter, Peyton Manning is more than willing to do his best imitation of Tim Tebow and hand off.

In their 34-17 win against the Baltimore Ravens here Sunday, the Broncos rushed the 45 times — the most-ever in a game quarterbacked by Manning, who is in his 15th season. Manning didn’t do all the handing off — rookie Brock Osweiler handed off once to Ronnie Hillman and then took two kneel downs.

Manning still a ways to go to match Tebow’s handoff record. Or did you forget that 55-carry, 2 of 8 passing performance in a 17-10 win at Kansas City last year?

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Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno straight hurdled Ravens safety Ed Reed in the first quarter Sunday at Baltimore. It will no doubt end up on highlight reel videos.

Moreno went on to rush for 118 yards on 22 carries in the Broncos’ 34-17 win over the Ravens. It was Moreno’s second consecutive game with 100 or more rushing yards.

And it wasn’t Moreno’s first hurdling highlight. He went right over top of a Central Michigan player when Moreno was playing in college for Georgia:

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Baltimore — The surprise with the Broncos’ inactive list against the Baltimore Ravens today was that running back Lance Ball is down while Jacob Hester is up.

Hester, a running back/fullback who played the previous four seasons with the San Diego Chargers, was a free-agent on the street for much of this season until he signed with the Broncos three weeks ago. This will be Hester’s first game with the Broncos.

Also not playing today are right guard Chris Kuper, quarterback Caleb Hanie, receiver Andre Caldwell, cornerback Tracy Porter, tight end Julius Thomas and nose tackle Sealver Siliga.

Outside linebacker and Broncos leading tackler Wesley Woodyard is playing today. Kuper is sitting out his ninth game because of injury. He missed five games with a fractured left forearm and four with a sprained left ankle. Manny Ramirez will make his ninth start at right guard today.

Baltimore — The Broncos can wind up anywhere from the No. 4 seed to tied with Houston for the No. 1 seed (with Houston owning the tiebreaker) by day’s end.

We gave the ideal day for the Broncos. Here’s the worst:

*Broncos lose to the Ravens. This would leave the Broncos with a 10-4 record and would all but eliminate them from contention for the top two playoff seeds, regardless of what the Patriots and Texans do in their games today.

The 10-3 Pats and 11-2 Texans own tiebreakers against the Broncos and with two games remaining, there would not likely be enough time for Denver to finish a full game ahead of either of those teams.

After the Pats play the tough San Francisco 49ers tonight, they finish with games at 2-11 Jacksonville and home against the 5-8 Miami Dolphins. The Pats aren’t likely to lost their final two so the Broncos chances of overcoming New England likely comes down to today.

The Broncos have to beat Baltimore and New England has to lose to the 49ers today. Otherwise, it’s highly likely the Broncos wind up with the No. 3 or 4 playoff seed, which means playing a first-round playoff game at home and second-round playoff game on the road.

Baltimore — The Broncos can wind up anywhere from the No. 4 seed to tied with Houston for the No. 1 seed (with Houston owning the tiebreaker) by day’s end.

Here’s a perfect day for the Broncos:

*Broncos beat Baltimore. This gives Broncos an 11-3 record with home games against Cleveland and Kansas City remaining. The Ravens would be 9-5 with games remaining against the New York Giants and Cincinnati Bengals.

*San Francisco 49ers beat the New England Patriots. This would leave the Pats with a 10-4 record. The Broncos would move ahead to the No. 2 conference seed, which provides a first-round playoff bye and second-round home playoff game.

*Houston Texans lose to the Indianapolis Colts. This would give Texans an 11-3 record with games against Minnesota and Indy remaining. Houston beat Denver head-to-head this year so the Texans would then have to lose one more for the Broncos to get the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

Baltimore — Peyton Manning continues to stay ahead of the weather.

The updated forecast now says rain in the area shouldn’t fall until about 5 p.m. EST, or after the game between the Broncos and Ravens is finished.

It’s overcast and a little chilly but Manning won’t be a need for Manning to wear a glove on his passing hand.

Baltimore — With the forecast calling for rain here today, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning experiemented with wearing a glove on his right passing hand late in the practice week.

The gloves used primarily by NFL receiver add tackiness to the grip. Experimenting with the glove, thoough, doesn’t mean Manning will wear it during the game today against the Baltimore Ravens.

Asked about the forecast of rain and cold during his press conference Wednesday at Dove Valley, Manning responded playfully: “Who’s giving that weather report on Wednesday? Denver local weather? National weather? You? Do you dabble in the meteorology field? Hey, if it does, it does.”

At 7:30 this morning, the Baltimore skies are overcast but there’s no rain. The Weather Channel just pointed out the rain is not expected to fall until the second half and it may not roll in until tonight. The temperature is supposed to reach 52 degrees so at least it wouldn’t be rain and cold.

Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas widenened his grin when asked about the 119 yards rushing last week by Knowshon Moreno against Oakland and whether Moreno might have another good day Sunday at Baltimore.

“If we can run the ball, that opens up stuff for the receivers because (the defense) has more guys in the box trying to stop the run,” Thomas said.

“That makes it a lot of man-to-man (defense). The more man-to-man, that will help us out. Then that helps the run game out.”

In football, particularly at the highest level, one action invariably affects another.

It’s no surprise that stopping the running game helps the pass rushers, but I’d never heard it explained until listening this week to Broncos veteran defensive tackle Justin Bannan following preparations for Sunday’s game at Baltimore (9-4).

“To me, stopping the run is supporting the defense in getting sacks,” said Bannan, a former Colorado standout.

“You’re not going to get sacks unless you’re able to stop the run right off the bat and put them in those third-and-long situations. That goes hand-in-hand.”

No conflict here. The Memphis Grizzlies are in town preparing to play the Denver Nuggets in an NBA game tonight (tipoff is at 8:30 p.m. for cripes sake) at the Pepsi Center.

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, whose wife Ashley recently invested a minority stake in her hometown Grizzlies, will not be in attendance tonight. Peyton Manning is about to leave with his team for the trip to Baltimore, where the Broncos will play Sunday against the Ravens. Broncos coach John Fox has made it a habit to leave two days before a road game instead of the customary one.

Asked about the Grizzlies’ game here tonight, Manning said: “No comment. Baltimore game.”

Ashley Manning’s Grizzlies had one of the NBA’s best records at 14-3 but they have lost two in a row — a 10-point loss at home to Atlanta and then a 2-point loss to woeful Phoenix.

So the Grizzlies are reeling as they visit Denver.

John Leyba, The Denver Post

Broncos running back Willis McGahee (23).

Since the start of the 1995 season, the Broncos have had a 1,000-yard rusher 12 times. With Willis McGahee now on injured reserve with a knee injury – the Broncos hope to have him back if they make the Super Bowl – they will not have a 1,000-yard rusher this season.

This is the first time over that span the team has made the playoffs without a 1,000-yard rusher leading the way on the ground. Here’s how the Broncos have finished in seasons without a 1,000-yard rusher since the start of 1995 – Mike Shanahan’s first season as coach:

With the sudden switch of offensive coordinators by the Baltimore Ravens from Cam Cameron to Jim Caldwell, conventional wisdom suggests that the Broncos defense will see some tweaks, including an offense that includes more of a hurry-up, no-huddle style.

The Broncos are certainly planning for that, defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said Thursday.

“It’s being talked about; yeah, it’s possible,” Del Rio said when asked if he expects a faster tempo from the Ravens. “Going back earlier in the year, they had some success with it. So it wouldn’t be totally shocking to see that. But that would be part of our preparation regardless.

“That’s kind of where NFL offensse are going — door-wide-open more, no-huddle, those types of things are becoming commonplace. We certainly get enough practice (against that) with our offense, with Peyton (Manning) and the way they direct things here in Denver to give ourselves a good opportunity to experience what it takes to defend it.”

Speaking Thursday to the media, Broncos veteran cornerback Champ Bailey said two keys to winning Sunday in Baltimore will be to stop the Ravens’ running game and not allowing wideout Anquan Boldin to have a big afternoon.

Among NFL active receivers, Boldin ranks third in career receiving yards per game with 73.0, trailing only Andre Johnson (80.5) and Larry Fitzgerald (74.9).

“He’s physical, tough,” Bailey said of Boldin. “He’s actually like a running back with receiving skills out there.

“It’s crazy, because he creates some matchup problems. He’ll push your around. He’ll do whatever it takes to get open.”

The Baltimore Ravens defense is a formidable unit, even historically. Here, Haloti Ngata and Paul Kruger sack Robert Griffin III. (The Associated Press)

For more than a decade, a Broncos game against the Ravens meant it wasn’t the week to get the run game going.

But this season, the Ravens have allowed four teams to rush for at least 172 yards in a game and they have surrendered 4.2 yards per carry through 13 games.

If that per carry number holds, it will mark the first time since the Ravens began play in Baltimore in 1996 that the team has surrendered more than four yards per carry in a season.

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In my eight years of covering the Broncos, I have rated Baltimore as the toughest place for opponents to play.

I say that because Ravens fans, more than any other, are a defensive-minded crowd. They feed off Ray Lewis.

And so the Broncos will practice today and Thursday amid some serious, artificial crowd noise. Luckily for the them, Peyton Manning has shown he can handle it.

The Broncos are 0-5 lifetime against the Ravens in Baltimore. The average score of those five games: 28.4 to 11.2. So the Ravens have not only beat the Broncos every single time in Baltimore, they have whipped them by an average of 17.2 points.

Manning, though, won his last four games in Baltimore as a member of the Indianapolis Colts.

The Denver defense will have to react fast against the Baltimore Ravens in a matchup of AFC playoff teams on Sunday. The Ravens fired their offensive coordinator with the idea using a no-huddle offense.

Broncos linebacker Von Miller chases down Raiders QB Carson Palmer. (Contra Costa Times)

Broncos linebacker Von Miller needs one sack to tie Elvis Dumervil’s single-season sack record for the Broncos.

Miller has already constructed just the third 16-sack season in Broncos history.

Year … Player … Sacks
2009 … Elvis Dumervil … 17.0
2012* … Von Miller … 16.0
1992 … Simon Fletcher … 16.0
1993 … Simon Fletcher … 13.5
1991 … Simon Fletcher … 13.5
1986 … Rulon Jones … 13.5
*Through 13 games

Entering the Monday night matchup of AFC titans (not the Tennessee kind), only the New England Patriots are bigger favorites than the Broncos to win the Super Bowl.

According to the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, the Broncos’ odds of winning it all have been shorted to 9-2 — the same odds given to the Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers.
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Goodness, the Baltimore Ravens are taking this Broncos game seriously.

First, there’s the prospects that linebackers Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs, who have injuries that would sideline anyone else for the season, are trying to play Sunday against the Broncos.

Then comes word today that the Ravens have fired offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and promoted quarterback coach Jim Caldwell. Caldwell was Peyton Manning’s head coach in Indianapolis from 2009-11. Caldwell went to the Super Bowl in his first year as head coach in 2009. He was fired after going 2-14 without Manning last season.

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