ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Besieged from outside the locker room and scrutinized from inside after two benchings and a three-man position shuffle, the Denver Broncos’ maligned offensive line finally found the performance it sought for so long.

After a week in which it answered questions stemming from the barbed critique of former Broncos guard-turned-ESPN-analyst Mark Schlereth, Denver’s offensive line powered the Broncos to their best rushing day of the season, with 201 yards on 35 carries in the Broncos’ 39-36 comeback win over Miami.

The Broncos said all week they were going to establish the run and give the offensive line a chance to plow ahead, rather than retreat exclusively into pass blocking as was the case in the 22-7 loss at St. Louis, when the Broncos called 56 pass plays against just 10 runs, one of which was a kneel-down.

“Obviously, we’d rather be running it than passing it,” said center Will Montgomery, speaking of the old maxim that offensive linemen would rather run and drive than protect the passer and retreat. “But we have a guy that can pass it pretty good, so to be effective in the long run, we need to do both, and we can do both.”

Until Sunday, no one was sure whether the Broncos could do that. From Montee Ball to Ronnie Hillman to C.J. Anderson, all three of the Broncos’ starting running backs at various points in the season struggled because defensive linemen poured into the backfield. The final straw came in St. Louis, when the Broncos ditched the run to the point where they closed the game with 26 consecutive pass plays, which gave the Rams license to attack Peyton Manning when he went back to throw.

Manning was hit five times by the Rams. But the Dolphins got to him just once, for a third-down sack to end a potential scoring threat early in the third quarter. Miami couldn’t tee off because the Broncos were so effective on the ground, beginning on the first play, when a six-man offensive line, using Paul Cornick as an extra tackle, surged ahead as a wall to spring Anderson for an 8-yard gain.

The Broncos kept pounding from there, even when they fell behind by 11 points on three separate occasions, including late in the third quarter.

“(Offensive coordinator Adam) Gase came to me and said, ‘If you give me four here, we’re going to call another one.’ And if the O-line is like, ‘Man, keep calling them,’ the O-line wants to keep punishing, they want to keep pushing, they want to keep grinding,” said Anderson. “That’s just amazing.”

And for the first time all season, the Broncos had effective balance, with a ground game as effective as its vaunted Manning-powered passing attack.

REPORT CARD VS. DOLPHINS

–PASSING OFFENSE: A-minus — The Broncos ran more than they passed — barely. That balance helped create open receivers, and even though Peyton Manning overshot Emmanuel Sanders twice on go routes late in the third quarter, he found enough targets to finish with a completion percentage of 80.0, four touchdowns and a 135.4 passer rating. Demaryius Thomas lost his streak of consecutive 100-yard games, but compensated with three touchdown catches as the aerial attack maximized its opportunities.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: A — The Broncos said they were going to emphasize the run — and then went out and did it, better than anyone could have expected. The first four plays were handoffs to C.J. Anderson, and he didn’t stop until he racked up a career-high 167 yards on 27 carries. Juwan Thompson pitched in 33 yards on five carries, and both benefited from an offensive line that looked transformed from a week earlier.

–PASS DEFENSE: C-plus — Ryan Tannehill diced up the Broncos early, completing 12 consecutive passes from the first through third quarters. But after Terrance Knighton brought down Tannehill for a sack in the third quarter, he struggled under constant pressure, which helped the Broncos’ injury-decimated cornerback corps get a foothold against Miami’s receivers. Eventually, Chris Harris Jr. forced a deflected pass that T.J. Ward intercepted, setting up the touchdown that allowed Denver to escape.

–RUSH DEFENSE: B-minus — In the first half, Miami gashed the Broncos by suckering their defenders to one side using receivers and tight ends in motion and running to the vacated spots. Denver tightened up in the second half by not overplaying the Dolphins’ pre-snap adjustments and instead focused on stopping the run from the inside. Miami had 90 yards on 15 carries in the first half, but just seven on six carries in the second.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: D — The anguished reactions of Demaryius Thomas and Manny Ramirez spoke volumes about the Broncos’ confidence in kicker Brandon McManus after he sent a 33-yard field-goal attempt into the right upright. It was the Broncos’ shortest missed field goal in nearly two years. McManus is now 32nd in the league in field-goal percentage, and being the third-best kicker in the league on touchbacks might not be enough to compensate. Punt returner Isaiah Burse’s fumble less than five minutes later led to Miami’s fourth touchdown and put the Broncos down 11 points going into the fourth quarter, a deficit entirely attributable to the special-teams meltdown. Omar Bolden showed promise on kickoff returns, averaging 33.3 yards on three runbacks, but that was the only positive from an otherwise disastrous day for the unit.

–COACHING: A-minus — The re-commitment to the ground game paid off, as it kept Miami’s defense off-balance, re-established the comfort level of the offensive line and forced the Dolphins to dial down their coverages and pass rush, leading to open receivers as the game progressed. John Fox and offensive coordinator Adam Gase did not waver from their commitment when the Broncos fell behind by 11 points on three occasions. Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio won the battle of halftime adjustments by simplifying the Broncos’ coverages in the second half, playing to stop Miami’s run game and daring Ryan Tannehill to pass; the Dolphins didn’t mount a long second-half drive until after the Broncos scored 22 consecutive points to take control.