EARTH CITY, Mo. — Peyton Manning has played 42 regular-season games for the Denver Broncos but never had they played like they did Sunday in a 22-7 loss to the St. Louis Rams.

In winning their third game this season against teams that played in the conference championship games last season, the Rams held the Broncos to seven points and Denver never ran a play from the red zone.

The Broncos’ only touchdown came on a 42-yard pass on a blown coverage to wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, and the deepest they advanced otherwise was the Rams’ 28-yard line.

In 11 possessions, Denver got past midfield four other times, but punted once and was stopped three times on fourth down. On third and fourth down combined, the Broncos were 4-for-15.

Even with Sunday’s seven points, the Broncos are averaging 32.9 points per game with Manning as quarterback. This game was only the second with Manning that they scored fewer than 20 points. The other was a 17-9 win over Kansas City on Nov. 25, 2012. Only 12 times have the Broncos scored fewer than 30 points in a game.

The Rams’ defense, run by coordinator Gregg Williams, had some struggles early in the season, but it seems to be finding its rhythm. In the last three games, opponents have scored a total of 34 points with the defense on the field. Williams is the third defensive coordinator the team has had in coach Jeff Fisher’s three seasons.

Said middle linebacker James Laurinaitis, “Although the scheme was similar two years ago, when Blake Williams (Gregg Williams’ son) was here, when you go from coordinator to a different one to a different one, you’re still relearning a lot of things. This scheme is built so that if everyone is on the same page you can play really fast. Gregg always says, ‘A slow correct decision is still a wrong decision.’ He doesn’t want you to be thinking, ‘Well technically I’m supposed to be here.’ If you do that slowly he’s still going to grade you down because he wants you playing fast. I think the last few weeks we’ve just kind of been able to come in and play extremely fast and trust each other and know that we don’t have to be perfect, but let’s just be aggressive and physical. The light bulb is kind of switched on but we have to keep that thing on. I don’t want it to run out.”

The defense has been especially strong against running backs; the Rams limited C.J. Anderson to 29 yards on nine carries. The Broncos became so one-dimensional that after Anderson ran for three yards with 7:49 to play in the third quarter and the Rams leading 13-7, Denver never called another running play.

The final 28 snaps, including two offensive holding penalties, were called pass plays. Of the other 26 snaps, 17 were completions — but for just 172 yards. There were five incompletions, two interceptions (by linebacker Alec Ogletree and cornerback Trumaine Johnson) and two sacks (by Laurinaitis and defensive tackle Aaron Donald).

With tight end Julius Thomas and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders out of the game because of injuries, seven of the 17 completions went to running backs.

The Rams got pressure on Manning, and defensive end Robert Quinn credited the entire defense: “I think we were getting the pressure. He gets the ball out fast, so I think the opportunities that we had, we got back there and made him a little bit uneasy with getting pressured. The back seven covered their tails off, making huge plays.”

NBC analyst Rodney Harrison said, “The one thing we know about the Rams: They can rush the passer. They played Peyton exactly how you have to play him: You have to pressure him and you have to beat up the receivers. And they were very aggressive and physical.”

Now, the Rams head to San Diego for the second of three consecutive games against AFC West teams. The Chargers scored just 13 points Sunday against Oakland after being shut out against Miami two weeks prior to that before their bye.

Asked if a big win like the one Sunday deserves an extension of the 24-hour “enjoy it” rule to possibly 36 hours, Fisher smiled and said, “We’re going on to the Chargers right now.”

But he and the team recognize a big win doesn’t mean much unless it’s followed with another win and can be built on. Since starting the season 1-4, the Rams have alternated wins and losses the last four weeks.

“That’s the thing,” Fisher said, “and the guys were talking about that last night in the locker room: We had a big win now; can we go ahead and put another one together. Because it’s going win-loss, win-loss, win-loss and it needs to go win-win. That’s our focus.”

REPORT CARD VS. BRONCOS

–PASSING OFFENSE: B-plus — QB Shaun Hill played well in his first game of the season since injuring his quad in the season opener. He completed 20 of 29 passes for 220 yards with a passer rating of 102.7 and, most important, had no interceptions. He was fortunate on one of three sacks when he was able to recover his own fumble after being hit hard by DE DeMarcus Ware. Hill helped extend drives with some key third-down conversions. One of the biggest was a 10-yard pass to WR Stedman Bailey on third-and-10 in the fourth quarter that not only led to a 55-yard field goal but enabled another 2:47 to go off the clock. WR Kenny Britt had a 63-yard score to go with a 33-yard play, and ended up with four receptions for 128 yards.

RUSHING OFFENSE: B-plus — RB Tre Mason had a lot of short runs, but the Rams stuck with it, and Mason carried 29 times for 113 yards for his first 100-yard game. He had 18 rushes for 89 yards after three quarters (4.9 per attempt), but his game average was affected as the Rams milked the clock in the fourth quarter when Denver knew the run was coming. He was just 11-for-24 in the final 15 minutes, giving him an average of 3.9 per run for the game.

PASS DEFENSE: B — It might look bad that QB Peyton Manning passed for 389 yards, but this was one of those games where yards meant little. He entered the game averaging 8.25 yards per attempt and 12.2 per completion. In this game, he averaged 7.20 per attempt and 11.4 per completion. Most notably, his passer rating was 75.3 after coming in at 112.0. Twelve of his 34 completions went to RB C.J. Anderson (eight) and TE Jacob Tamme (four), who was replacing an injured Julius Thomas. Manning also had just seven interceptions and had been sacked nine times in the first nine games, but the Rams had two of each Sunday. It helped that WR Emmanuel Sanders left early in the third quarter because of a concussion, but it was also the first game this season that CBs Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson started together.

RUSH DEFENSE: A — The Broncos stopped running in the third quarter when they weren’t far behind. RB Montee Ball returned from a groin injury, but aggravated it early in the game. Ronnie Hillman was inactive. C.J. Anderson managed just 29 yards on nine carries, and that was it for the Denver ground game.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A — K Greg Zuerlein had a career-high five field goals, including 53- and 55-yard kicks in the fourth quarter. He also had five touchbacks, and when the design was to kick short of the end zone, Andre Caldwell returned two for just 24 yards, setting the Broncos up at the 11- and 15-yard lines on excellent coverage. P Johnny Hekker, often kicking to a short field, had the same net as gross (43.3), with four inside the 20, five fair catches and one attempted return for zero yards. RB Benny Cunningham had two kickoff returns for 49 yards.

COACHING: A — This was one of those rare games where the execution matched the plan. The coaches implemented a plan that could work, and the players made it happen in all three phases: offense, defense and special teams.