The day after is always better with a win rather than a loss.
Denver’s defense completely shut down Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense to the tune of 140 total yards in the Broncos .
Coach Gary Kubiak lauded the effort of defensive end Derek Wolfe, who won defensive player of the week for his performance against the Packers.
Wolfe was a beast in the run game. He led the team with seven tackles and also added a tackle for loss.
“We’re really proud of Derek. He’s come back and worked hard. We needed to stop the run last night that was important,” Kubiak said. “Big game for him.”
Packers’ backs averaged 3.1 yards per carry Sunday and rushed for only 49 yards out of the backfield.
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The defense wasn’t the only side of the ball that played well.
Denver’s offense was a completely different unit than the team presented in the first six weeks of the season.
Quarterback Peyton Manning threw for more than 300 yards, receiver Demaryius Thomas totaled more than 150 yards, running backs C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman combined for more than150 yards and both tight ends, Virgil Green and Owen Daniels, presented a huge boost to the Broncos offense as the second and third leading receivers.
“It started a little bit in Cleveland we started to play better,” Kubiak said. “Last night we had I think 16 plays of 15 yards or more. That’s hard to do in this league.”
Love for the big boys up front
A lot of the success in the run game is based on improvement from the backs, but the offensive line deserves it share of credit as well. For the second straight game, the guys up front opened sizable holes for Anderson and Hillman to run through and Manning wasn’t sacked at all.
One guy in particular that has shined is Michael Schofield at right tackle. He came in Week 4 for his first career start taking over for the injured Ty Sambrailo . He’s been answering the call.
“It’s quiet. Nobody is talking about him,” Kubiak said about Schofield. “That’s a good thing, that means you’re doing your job.”
With , Schofield will likely be the full-time right tackle for the rest of the season.
Kubiak said the offensive line working together all week and constant rotation on game day giving veterans Ryan Harris, Evan Mathis and Louis Vasquez short breathers was a huge benefit to the team.
Run, C.J., run
Kubiak laughed at the notion that benching Anderson for Hillman at running back was a wake up call for Anderson. He said Hillman and Anderson both played well. Anderson had the best game of his season.
“C.J. did his thing today. He had some great looks, and he took advantage of them,” Hillman said. “It was a great night for him, so you’ve just got to be happy for him.”
Anderson that he was more banged up than he initially thought earlier in the season with lingering toe, foot and other injuries. He got healthy over the bye week and had 101 rushing yards and a touchdown on 14 carries Sunday against Green Bay.
“I had fun. I just went out there and took what the defense gave me. The running back coach (Eric Studesville) and coach Kubiak kept believing in me and kept pushing me. Throughout the week, I had a great week of practice,” Anderson said.
Hillman got his first start of the year Sunday in place of Anderson and got 38 snaps compared to Anderson’s 27 Sunday.
“We’re going to create a competitive environment with both of them. We need them both,” Kubiak said.
Cameron Wolfe: 303-954-1891, cwolfe@denverpost.com or @CameronWolfe
