DENVER — For the first time in a long time, Peyton Manning went without a touchdown pass. It didn’t prevent him and his team from chalking up another win.

The Buffalo Bills held the Broncos’ quarterback without a scoring pass for the first time in 52 games but couldn’t keep running back C.J. Anderson out of the end zone as the Broncos beat the Bills 24-17 on Sunday.

Manning’s streak of games with at least one touchdown pass was snapped at 51, three shy of Drew Brees’ NFL record.

“I’ve broken a lot of records and set a lot of records due to playing for a long time and playing well at times, but it’s never been something that I’ve been about,” said Manning, the NFL’s only five-time league MVP. “I don’t need to break or set another record. It was important to get a win tonight.”

Manning was 14 of 20 for 173 yards passing and was intercepted twice but Denver’s defense helped the Broncos overcome their quarterback’s second consecutive subpar performance by being just as rough, if not rougher, on Buffalo quarterback Kyle Orton.

A former Bronco, Orton one-upped Manning with a touchdown pass while completing 38 of 57 passes for 355 yards, but he also was intercepted twice and was sacked four times.

“I think we’ve been getting better each week, every week, the whole season,” Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall said of Denver’s defense. “I think we’re just clicking now, and we’re clicking at the right time.”

Denver’s rushing attack helped offset the downturn in the passing game.

Anderson, coming off successive 100-yard games, ran 21 times for 58 yards, including touchdown runs of 1, 3 and 6 yards for AFC West-leading Denver (10-3), which won for the fourth time in five games.

What the Bills said:

“Good for coach (Doug) Marrone for taking the blame. We definitely appreciate that, because that means he has our backs. But it’s not on him. We’re the ones out there. He’s not the one out there getting penalties. We are. Sure, he might not have mentioned it during the week as much as he wishes and maybe he’s beating himself up about it, but it’s on us as players and we’ve got to get it fixed.” — TE Lee Smith.

What the Broncos said:

“We just wanted to outplay their defense. We knew the strength of their team was their defense, their defensive line. We wanted to get more sacks. We talked about it earlier in the week. Every time their defense made a play, we wanted to make a better play.” — DT Terrance Knighton.

What we learned about the Bills:

1. A lack of discipline hurt the Bills against the Broncos. They had 11 penalties for 98 yards, including infractions on two interception returns that cost them significant field position. Buffalo did not get any points out of either pick. “We can’t be killing ourselves with penalties. We can’t allow emotions to get the better of us,” said cornerback Corey Graham.

2. The Bills offense got untracked in the second half but once again it was too late. And wide receiver Sammy Watkins believes the Bills need to be more aggressive offensively from the outset. “We just need to change our whole approach in the first half, first quarter. I think once we get that killer instinct mindset to go down field no matter what, no matter who we’re playing, we’ll be a great offense.”

–The Bills did not have a sack in a game for the first time this season, though they held Denver quarterback Peyton Manning without a touchdown pass and forced three turnovers. Buffalo came into the game with a league-leading 48 sacks.

–QB Kyle Orton threw one touchdown and is now three touchdown passes shy of 100 for his career.

–WR Sammy Watkins had seven catches for 127 yards. He has a team rookie-record 58 catches on the year, overtaking Joe Cribbs, who had 52 in 1980.

What we learned about the Broncos:

–Denver’s defense is coming to the fore for the AFC West-leading Broncos in the final weeks of the season. The Broncos’ defensive unit had three takeaways in the victory over Buffalo, and it marked the first time in five years that Denver had recorded at least three turnovers in successive games. As it girds for a playoff run, Denver is making a concerted effort to be more balanced and to be more physical. “We work hard enough to try to get that offensive stigma off us and become a more balanced team,” said Broncos defensive end Malik Jackson. “I think when teams come in here, they look at both sides (of the ball). Games like tonight (showed that) and games coming up will, too.”

2. The time will come when the Broncos have to lean on quarterback Peyton Manning once again. But for the second straight week, they showed that they can still win even when their quarterback has a subpar performance. Manning has had his lowest passing yardage totals of the season in Denver’s last two games but the Broncos have won both times, helped by the emergence of a power running game. C.J. Anderson followed back-to-back 100-yard games with three clutch touchdown runs from up close. He and Juwan Thompson combined for 121 yards rushing on the day.

–RB C.J. Anderson rushed for a career-best three touchdowns against Buffalo and his total of five TDs in the last three games are the most among running backs during that span.

–LB Von Miller had a sack to push his career total to 48, including 13 this season. He has tied Tim Haris for the seventh-most sacks in NFL history through a player’s first four seasons.

–QB Peyton Manning’s streak of consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass was snapped at 51. It was the third longest such streak in NFL history behind Drew Brees (54) and Tom Brady (52).