Gone were the natty suits he'd worn in most of the early-season games.

"I wanted to get back to basics," he said.

Marshall paused briefly, then broke into laughter.

"Nah, I don't have enough suits and I ran out," he said, cracking up. "I was trying to come up with a good answer, but I only have 12 suits in the closet, and I don't want to keep showing the same suit."

He was dressed for success, anyway.

There might have been no three-piece suits, but, more important for his team, there were two touchdowns.

Marshall caught 11 passes for 91 yards, recalling the look of the player that starred in 2007 and ripped through the beginning of September but has slumped some of late, no matter the outfit.

"It was a matter of time before I would do things to help our team win," Marshall said after the Broncos improved to 8-5 with a 24-17 win against the Kansas City Chiefs at Invesco Field. "It feels good."

Marshall's 11 receptions were the most since he started the season Sept. 14 with 18 catches against San Diego.

It's only the second time in his three-year career he has reached the end zone twice, the last time also coming against Kansas City, at home last year.

He kissed the end zone on the first touchdown. He nearly face- planted into it on the second, after getting hit at the 5-yard line, spinning and diving to paydirt.

But neither of those plays might have been the biggest for Marshall, who last week discussed a hip injury that has limited him but recently has gone away, allowing him to feel in peak physical condition for the home stretch.

With the Broncos leading by seven and facing a third-and-10 at its 1-yard line with just less than four minutes to play, Marshall got inside position and went up high over Chiefs cornerback Brandon Carr for a 19-yard gain and a first down.

A punt in that situation and Kansas City likely would have had the ball in optimum position, driving for the tying, or even winning points.

"We work on that," said quarterback Jay Cutler, who completed 32-of-40 passes for 286 yards, while overcoming a first-quarter "pick-6."

"It's pretty much a slant route. And if he doesn't feel like he can win, he converts it. And if I feel like the corner's over the top, I can underthrow him; if not, there's a lot of options there. It takes a lot of practice. But we were on the same page."

And, just maybe, Marshall has started writing a new chapter in what he called "a grind" of a season in which he'd scored only once since Sept. 28 and averaged 65.5 yards during one six-game stretch.

While Cutler stated the Broncos offense "can function . . . pretty well" with Marshall catching 10 or two passes in a game, this performance could serve as a confidence boost for one of his top targets, who crossed 1,000 yards with his 6-yard, fourth-quarter score.

"I think this is going to help," Cutler said in reference to Marshall. "He's had some injuries, some setbacks. He hasn't been 100 percent. He hasn't been the Brandon Marshall of last year. I think this game was really positive towards getting him back in that direction. He had a good attitude. He ran hard. He was good in the huddle. It was all good for him."

It didn't look so promising for the Broncos offense after Chiefs cornerback Maurice Leggett ran back a Cutler pass 27 yards for a touchdown; or when Kansas City forged ahead 17-7 in the second quarter on Tyler Thigpen's 13-yard scoring toss to tight end Tony Gonzalez.

But Marshall's first end-zone trip from 12 yards cut the deficit to three points.

And the Broncos embarked on drives to Matt Prater's 33-yard field goal and Marshall's 6-yard diving effort to cap a 95-yard drive early in the fourth.

The Broncos, who lost starting running back Peyton Hillis to a hamstring injury, had to hang on even while holding a 27-14 edge in first downs, a 425-260 advantage in yards and converting third downs at a 64 percent clip.

It was only the second time in seven games this season the Broncos trailed by more than a touchdown and managed to come back to win.

The Broncos beat Cleveland after trailing 23-10 but lost games at Kansas City, against Jacksonville, at New England, against Miami and against Oakland after trailing by at least nine points.

"I think we needed that to prove to everybody, and ourselves, that we can come back from a bad start," Marshall said.

And when it was all said and done, the team's close, not his clothes, made him the man.