PRO FOOTBALL : Broncos Widen the Gap, 34-28 : They Lead Raiders by Two Games After Victory Over Bengals

John Elway put the Broncos ahead with his passing and kept them there with a crucial run Sunday, moving Denver within a victory of the AFC West title.

Elway, who hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass in his previous three games, had three of them in the second quarter to help the Broncos to a 17-point lead, and then ran for a key first down late in the game to preserve a 34-28 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The victory raised Denver’s record to 10-3 and, coupled with a loss by the Raiders, extended its lead in the AFC West to two games.

The Broncos must win one of their final three games to clinch the division title.

Cincinnati fell to 8-5 and dropped one game behind Cleveland in the AFC Central.

Elway threw touchdown passes of 4 yards to Vance Johnson, 19 yards to Mark Jackson and 8 yards to Sammy Winder. Winder also ran for a touchdown, and Rick Karlis added two field goals.

Stanley Wilson and Larry Kinnebrew scored first-half touchdowns on the ground for the Bengals.

“We did a lot of good things offensively,” Denver Coach Dan Reeves said. “We knew we had to because Cincinnati has an explosive offense.”

The Bengals trailed 34-14 but closed to 34-28 on two fourth-quarter touchdown passes from Boomer Esiason to Cris Collinsworth.

With four minutes left, Cincinnati moved from its 20 to inside Denver’s 40. But on third and 10 at the 37, center Dave Rimington’s snap from shotgun formation sailed past Esiason, resulting in a 23-yard loss and ending the drive.

“We felt we could run the shuttle pass, but Dave couldn’t hear me,” Esiason said. “He snapped it a little bit early.”

Elway then passed 11 yards to Jackson for a first down and ran 17 yards on a quarterback draw on third and 13 for another as the Broncos ran out the clock.

“Billy Bryan threw a great block and I knew if I got the first down, the game was over,” Elway said. “It was about as nerve-wracking as they get.”

Elway completed 22 of 34 passes for 228 yards and no interceptions. Esiason was 21 of 30 for 306 yards and 1 interception.

“We had our shot, that’s all we can ask for,” said Collinsworth, who caught 8 passes for 138 yards. “We played a good game. Unfortunately we played the team favored to win the AFC. We’ve got our backs against the wall. This pretty much eliminates us from the wild card. We’ve got to win the division.”

A crowd of 58,705 braved freezing temperatures and nearly a foot of snow which fell overnight and Sunday morning. There were 17,444 no-shows, the highest since Denver’s streak of 127 consecutive sellouts began in 1970.

But there were only light flurries at kickoff and the field was in good condition.