Moore allowed Jacoby Jones’ 70-yard touchdown catch in the final minute of regulation in the Broncos’ playoff game the Baltimore Ravens won in double overtime on their way to winning the Super Bowl.

John Elway, the Broncos’ vice president of football operations, and coach John Fox both say Moore made great progress last season and they have confidence he’ll put the blunder behind him and make even greater strides in 2013.

With free agency looming and the draft approaching, the Broncos say they feel good about their safeties, including Quinton Carter, who is recovering from knee surgery and could push Moore for playing time in training camp.

“We anticipate both of them to come back even better,” Fox said at the NFL combine last week.

Elway said Thursday on 104.3 FM The Fan radio station in Denver that there’s no thought at team headquarters of moving Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey to safety next season, either.

As the AFC’s top seed, owners of an NFL-best 11-game winning streak and odds-on favorite to win it all, the Broncos thought they’d be the ones hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in New Orleans. Instead, the Ravens parlayed their stunning comeback in Denver into winning the rings that Peyton Manning and Von Miller were so confident they’d be getting fitted for about now.

The business of 2013 beckons, however, and the Broncos are moving on.

While fans may salivate over the likes of free agents Ed Reed and Charles Woodson or any number of younger safeties about to hit the open market, the Broncos’ brass continues to praise Moore for the progress he made last season and insist his wasn’t the only costly mistake that hurt them in the playoffs.

“Rahim had a great year,” Elway said at the NFL combine. “The strides he made from his rookie year to this year were tremendous. We expect him to make those same strides and I think the bottom line is for him — I haven’t seen him since the last game, but once he gets back and around his teammates — there are a lot of things in that game that caused it to end up the way it ended up. It wasn’t one play that caused us to lose.

“I’m happy with him and I think I was really impressed with him and how he handled it after the game. He stood up and he took it, which to me showed a great amount of maturation on his part. I’m looking forward to him coming back and even having a better year next year.”

Fox took just as much heat as Moore did over what happened next — ordering Manning to take a knee so Denver could take its chances in overtime rather than trying to move into field goal range with three timeouts and 31 seconds to work with.

“Once the season is over or after the Super Bowl, I think the reality is that everybody is 0-0, or undefeated or however you want to put it,” Fox said. “Any loss kind of sticks with you — scars, I might say — but you have to spit it out and get onto the next season and not let it linger and affect your preparation moving to the next season.”

Elway has been down this road before, and he’s optimistic a similar payoff awaits. The Hall of Fame quarterback-turned-front office executive has now been a part of two playoff runs that ended with questions about what went wrong in an early exit from the playoffs.

Elway experienced it as a player in 1996, when the Broncos were upset at home by the Jacksonville Jaguars, 30-27, but then came back and won the next two Super Bowls.

He once again finds himself picking up the pieces after a disheartening loss.

The Broncos’ stars all stumbled in that 38-35 loss: Manning had three turnovers, including an interception that led to the winning field goal; Bailey got burned repeatedly; Ryan Clady was playing with a torn rotator cuff that would require surgery and wasn’t anything close to his usual dominant self as Manning’s blindside protector; and Miller and Elvis Dumervil combined for just one sack.

All those poor performances were overshadowed, however, by the many mystifying mistakes that Moore, their second-year free safety, made on Jones’ 70-yard touchdown catch from Joe Flacco with 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Moore lined up too shallow and allowed Jones to blow past him after leaving cornerback Tony Carter, who failed to jam at the line of scrimmage, in the dust. Then, instead of going for the tackle, Moore tried for the interception on Flacco’s 50-yard high-arcing heave but mistimed his jump.

Moore took the blame after the game and promised to make good, saying, “I’m going to keep my head high and next time the opportunity comes, I’m just going to make it for my team. I’ll just make the play.”

The Broncos say they’re willing to give him that chance.

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So, up the ladder he went — throwing the ball high in the back of the end zone to Demaryius Thomas.

Manning A True No. 1

Thomas leaped and brought it down with his right hand, then got both feet down inside the line for a touchdown. With that, he joined Eric Decker in Denver’s one-handed-touchdown club Sunday and gave the Broncos some otherworldly highlights to go with their home-field advantage throughout the playoffs after a 38-3 runaway over the Kansas City Chiefs.

“They claim they can do that all the time,” said cornerback Champ Bailey, who got to watch the replays of both catches about a half-dozen times on the scoreboard. “They say they practice that. I don’t see it. But as long as they do it on Sunday, I’m all for it. Those are some great, hardworking boys and I expect nothing less.”

Manning, in search of his fifth MVP award and, yes, a second Super Bowl title, finished 23 for 29 for 304 yards, three scores and a 144.8 passer rating. One of his main competitors for the award, Adrian Peterson of the Vikings, ran for 199 yards in a 37-34 win over Green Bay that secured a playoff berth.

That one went down to the wire. Manning was out of his game by the fourth quarter.

This was the second straight Sunday he used a grey-and-orange glove to prepare for the cold, playoff weather he could face at home the next two games.

“I threw it OK today, I guess,” said Manning, who finished the season with 4,659 yards, 37 touchdowns and a 105.8 passer rating, all second best in his 15-year career.

Thanks to Houston’s 28-16 loss to Indianapolis before the Broncos kicked off, Denver (13-3) will be the top seed for the sixth time. The Broncos made the Super Bowl four of the previous five times.

Though the Chiefs (2-14) gave the Broncos as tough a tussle as anyone during their 11-game winning streak — in a 17-9 loss last month — this wasn’t expected to be much of a game. It wasn’t.

Leave it to Manning, ever the perfectionist, to ramp up the degree of difficulty.

On the touchdown to Decker, Manning slightly overthrew the pass, but Decker brought the ball into his helmet with his left hand, had it pinball against his facemask twice, then cradled it with both hands as he was falling to the ground.

“Peyton throws the ball up, giving us a chance to make a play. It’s our job to catch it,” Decker said.

The touchdown to the 6-foot-3 Thomas mirrored a TD pass Manning threw to Decker last week against Cleveland: high in the back of the end zone where only his receiver could catch it.

“That was probably the limit right there,” Manning said. “But I’ve seen him in practice. He can jump. He can really elevate. It’s hard to throw it over his head, I’ll say that.”

The Thomas touchdown made it 28-3 and the celebration was on. The only trip the Broncos will have to make on their road to a championship would be to New Orleans for the Super Bowl. They’ll open the playoffs at home the weekend of Jan. 12-13 against Baltimore, Cincinnati or Manning’s old team, the Colts.

Coach John Fox, in search of his second trip to the Super Bowl, won his 100th career game. Thomas and linebacker Wesley Woodyard congratulated him with a big splash of orange Gatorade at the end.

“It’s an accomplishment, but it’s something that was a lot of people’s work. It wasn’t one guy,” Fox said.

Nor would Manning take all the credit for all he’s accomplished in this, a comeback season in which he admittedly had no expectations.

This marked his 73rd three-touchdown game, surpassing the record held by Brett Favre. Manning closed the regular season only 41 yards short of his career high.

“It’s been a gratifying regular season,” Manning said. “I will admit that. It is certainly more than I expected. I’m grateful and humble for it.”

On the other end of the spectrum are the Chiefs, who finished with 119 yards of offense and wrapped up the first pick in next year’s draft.

Coach Romeo Crennel watched the game from the sideline, leaning on a crutch, after having his knee drained of fluid earlier in the week. Many in Kansas City expect him to be unemployed soon.

“I told him it’s been a long one,” Chiefs defensive lineman Shaun Smith said about his postgame conversation with Crennel. “Sorry it didn’t turn out the way (we wanted). I have faith in you and that’s all that matters.”

The Broncos swept six games in the division for the first time since 1998 — the last time they won the Super Bowl.

John Elway retired after that one. Now he’s back, running Denver’s front office, and he signed Manning with only one goal in mind: a third Lombardi Trophy.

For a brief glimmer, this could have been a game. The Broncos led 7-0 when Ronnie Hillman fumbled and Chiefs cornerback Brandon Flowers picked it up and was sprinting toward the end zone.

Manning cut off the Flowers return, allowing tight end Joel Dreessen to drag down Flowers at the 12. The Chiefs settled for a field goal and the Broncos scored the next 31 points.

Game notes

Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles had 53 yards to finish the season with 1,509. … Broncos FS Rahim Moore got his first career sack and Von Miller had one to bring his season total to 18 1/2. … Hillman wasn’t seen against after his fumble. Lance Ball replaced him as Knowshon Moreno’s backup and led the team with 66 yards on 15 carries.

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