Für unsere Gäste » DENVER (AP) — Whether it was “The Fumble” or “

The Drive” in the playoffs in the 1980s or the 11 consecutive times Denver had dumped Cleveland Tyrod Taylor Jersey , the Broncos always served as the Browns’ biggest bugaboo.With John Elway watching from his suite at Mile High Stadium, Baker Mayfield capitalized on Denver’s depleted cornerback corps and dubious coaching decisions in leading the Browns past the Broncos 17-16 on Saturday night.Mayfield’s 2-yard TD toss to Antonio Callaway with just under 12 minutes left provided the winning margin for the Browns (6-7-1), who kept alive their slim hopes of ending the NFL’s longest playoff drought.Article continues below ...The Browns still have a shot at their first winning season since 2007 and even their first playoff berth since 2002 thanks to their first win over Denver (6-8) since 1990.“I think the tough environment, winning on the road’s the most important thing,” Mayfield said. “If we don’t take care of business tonight — and obviously we have to move on and take care of business next week — none of that matters.“So, being able to win on the road is something we’ve got to take pride in.”Combined with their win at Cincinnati last month, the Browns have multiple road victories for the first time since 2014.Callaway’s touchdown made it 17-13 and came with safety Justin Simmons in coverage because the Broncos were down five cornerbacks.The Broncos responded with a 13-play drive that ate up more than seven minutes, but after Phillip Lindsay was stuffed for no gain on third-and-1 from the Cleveland 6, Broncos coach Vance Joseph sent in kicker Brandon McManus for a field goal instead of going for it on fourth down.Jabrill Peppers, for one, was surprised the Broncos didn’t try for the first down or the end zone.“Absolutely. Absolutely. But, hey, it worked out in our favor,” Peppers said. “We’d been stopping them all day and they didn’t want to come away with nothing.”Exactly.“I wanted points there,” Joseph explained. “We had about 4:35 left. We had one timeout and the 2-minute warning. I trust our defense to get a stop there.”It didn’t happen, at least not right away.Nick Chubb reeled off a 40-yard run on the first play.“We can’t let that happen,” Von Miller said.But the Broncos came up with a big stop on fourth-and-1 from the Denver 10 when Cleveland interim coach Gregg Williams went for it — and Chubb was dropped for a 2-yard loss by Adam Gotsis.“We came up here to win a ballgame,” Williams said. “I don’t think anybody’s worried about me not being aggressive and we came up here to win it. Offensively we were going to win it right there. If not, defensively we’re going to come back and do it. Pretty similar going all-out blitz the last several plays. That’s the aggressive nature of the team.”The Broncos got the ball back at their 13 with 1:49 remaining and reached the 50-yard line with 52 seconds left. But a spike, two incompletions and a sack by defensive back Peppers of Case Keenum all but ended Denver’s playoff hopes.Keenum said he wanted the Broncos to go for it on fourth down at the Cleveland 6 but added that ultimately, Joseph’s decision worked out, despite the loss.“I can’t complain,” Keenum said, “because I’ve got the ball back in my hands with a chance to win the game. So Baker Mayfield Color Rush Jersey , that’s all I can ask for.”The Broncos began the night with cornerbacks Chris Harris Jr. and Isaac Yiadom sidelined and they lost Brendan Langley to a concussion in the first half and newly signed Jamar Taylor to an ejection in the second half on the same play Bradley Roby went out with a laceration in his mouth. Roby later returned.With safety Dymonte Thomas, who had his first career interception in the first half, subbing at cornerback, Miller broke Simon Fletcher’s franchise record of 103½ sacks, including playoffs.Denver’s depleted defense, however, was forced right back out onto the field when Keenum’s first-down heave was easily picked off by T.J. Carrie at the Broncos 48, after just eight seconds had ticked off the game clock.“I didn’t see the corner,” Keenum acknowledged. “And it’s not an excuse. But it’s ultimately what lost us the football game because they went out and scored right after that.”Six plays later, Mayfield put the Browns ahead for good.INJURIESLangley went out in the first half and Roby in the second. Combined with Taylor’s ejection — he was signed after Harris fractured his right fibula two weeks ago — and the Broncos were left scrambling in their secondary.UP NEXTBrowns: Host Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 23.Broncos: Visit Oakland Raiders on Christmas Eve. The Miami Hurricanes invented the turnover chain. The Browns borrowed that idea.They’ve been stealing everything else lately.With eight interceptions and seven forced fumbles in just five games, Cleveland’s defense leads the NFL with 15 takeaways — two more than the Browns got during 16 games in their winless 2017 season.The dramatic swing has helped the Browns (2-2-1) turn things around quickly while breeding confidence into a getting-better-by-the-week team that feels like it can do much more than simply compete this season.Creating turnovers has been a major emphasis of bombastic defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who devotes large chunks of practice — Thursday’s workout has been dubbed “Takeaway Thursday” — to drills geared toward getting the football.The Browns work on stripping it, tipping it, recovering it and doing anything in their power to gain possession. Then, they’re doing it in games.“It is what you do as a professional,” said Pro Bowl linebacker Joe Schobert, who has two fumble recoveries and an interception. “You try to take stuff from the practice field to the game, apply it and be able to contribute and do it. The fact that we have been able to do it just shows how hard and how focused everybody on the defense has been this whole offseason and in training camp.“We are just starting to see the rewards of our hard work.”After finishing last in the league with a minus-28 turnover differential last season, the Browns are first at plus-8.They opened the season by forcing six turnovers against Pittsburgh, but failed to capitalize and ended up tying the Steelers 21-21.A plus-5 turnover differential almost always guarantees victory — teams with that margin are 132-4-1 since 1999. But although the Browns came up short, the defense’s showing created confidence.“You just go into the game expecting to get turnovers,” said defensive back T.J. Carrie, part of Cleveland’s revamped secondary. “In this league, quarterbacks and coordinators are so good at not giving up turnovers. So when you can go in as a defensive unit and say https://www.brownsfanshop.com/Emmanuel-Ogbah-Jersey , ‘We’re guaranteed three turnovers this game, guaranteed. Play the way we play. Play fast.’ That is contagious to the entire team.”Rookie cornerback Denzel Ward has been Cleveland’s top defensive thief with three interceptions, two in Week 1. He’s also forced a fumble, recovered one and has given the Browns a defender that makes opponents wary.As he prepared to face the Browns on Sunday, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers took special note of Ward, the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s draft.“He obviously has good ball skills,” Rivers said. “If he gets an opportunity, he has made the play on it. It seems to be clear on things, too, that he is pretty savvy back there for a young player. He is not just, ‘Oh, I am playing my coverage and I have my zone.'”The excessive forced turnovers have led to a direct carry-over for Cleveland’s offense, which has been given better field position and more possessions.Rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield said it’s imperative when the defense comes up with a big play, the offense follows with one of its own.“We can really put a stamp on a game when the defense gets turnovers,” said Mayfield, who passed for 342 yards in his second career start last week. “We need to take advantage of when they do get those turnovers. We need to turn those into points and really take the life out of the other team. We just have to continue to feed off of that because it is very rare that you get a defense like that, that has 15 this early.”The Browns’ burglary prompted linebacker Christian Kirksey to copy Miami’s sideline celebration by placing a silver chain with a dangling orange dog bone trinket around neck of any defender who makes a big play.“It’s just something fun to do,” Kirskey said. “Having it around just bring a lot of chemistry for us.”Right now, the Browns are thick as thieves.NOTES: Offensive coordinator Todd Haley finally got to meet Snoop Dogg, who stopped in at Wednesday’s practice. A die-hard Steelers fan, the rapper had been very critical of Haley’s play calling when he coached in Pittsburgh. “We had a couple of rough years there,” Haley said. “It got smoother over the last few and then him being out there and saying that he is a part of the Dawg Pound, we are good now. I can go back to listening to West Coast rap.”___