DENVER -- With quarterback Peyton Manning and the Broncos' offense struggling, cornerback Aqib Talib provided the scoring boost Denver needed.

Talib returned an interception 51 yards for a go-ahead touchdown, helping overcome Manning's sluggish performance, and the Broncos beat the Baltimore Ravens 19-13 Sunday.

The victory was Denver's fourth straight opening-week win, and it made Gary Kubiak a winner in his debut as the Broncos' head coach.

"It might be the greatest defensive football game I've ever been a part of as a coach," Kubiak said. "On both sides of the ball, it was just tremendous. It was a battle all day long."

The game was the first the Broncos won without scoring an offensive touchdown since beating the Kansas City Chiefs 9-6 in overtime on Sept. 17, 2006.

"Our defense played outstanding," Manning said. "Talib made a good play to kind of negate the turnover that our offense had, so that was huge. Everybody did their part. We've just got to find a way to punch it into the end zone (offensively)."

In a rare occurrence, Manning was held without a touchdown pass, had an interception returned for a touchdown and was sacked four times. Kicker Brandon McManus booted four field goals, including a 33-yarder with 2:55 remaining to give Denver a six-point edge.

Manning was 24-for-40 passing for 175 yards with an interception. He finally got untracked a bit toward the end of the game, when he led a nearly 11-minute drive that ended in a field goal.

Quarterback Joe Flacco drove the Ravens to the Broncos' 16-yard line with less than a minute to play, but his third-down pass to the end zone for tight end Crockett Gillmore was intercepted by safety Darian Stewart, a former Raven.

"I feel great for him," Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall said of Stewart. "The team didn't sign him back or whatever, and he came here and got the game-sealing interception against his old team. I bet those guys are regretting letting him go right now."

The ball was brought out to the 20-yard line, where Manning took a knee to run out the final few seconds.

Two plays earlier, the Ravens just missed a touchdown. Cornerback Bradley Roby got his hand up as a Flacco pass went over him into the end zone for Steve Smith Sr., but the ball bounced off the receiver's facemask and fell incomplete.

"I just have to make that play," Smith said. "That really falls on me. No. 1 receiver, you have to make No. 1 plays, and I didn't."

Flacco, who finished 18 of 32 for 117 yards with two interceptions, acknowledged both quarterbacks played poorly for much of the game.

"Well, we did have two touchdown passes to the other team, but other than that, yeah, it was an ugly one," Flacco said. "It wasn't too fun to be a part of."

With both offenses having difficulty establishing themselves, it was left to the Ravens' defense to strike for the game's first touchdown, which put Baltimore in front 10-9 early in the third quarter.

Blitzing cornerback Kyle Arrington barreled into Manning as the quarterback released the pass. At the same time, cornerback Jimmy Smith left his man to hit wide receiver Jordan Norwood from behind as Manning's pass arrived, deflecting the ball up in the air and allowing Smith to snag the deflection on the run. He raced untouched down the right sideline for the touchdown putting, the Ravens up by a point.

Justin Tucker kicked his second field goal, a 44-yarder, for a 13-9 Baltimore lead before Denver answered with a pick-six of its own.

Talib stepped in front of Steve Smith to intercept Flacco's pass and then wove his way downfield, stepping out of a last-ditch tackle near the goal line before tumbling into the end zone and tossing the football into the stands in celebration.

"It was a premium look for us," Talib said. "We were going to get the play all day. I checked the situation. I saw the look. He threw it right to me."

Both teams lost key players to injury during the course of the game.

Baltimore left tackle Eugene Monroe left in the first quarter with a concussion. After the game, the Ravens announced that pass-rushing linebacker Terrell Suggs went down midway through the fourth with a season-ending left Achilles tendon tear.

"You can never replace a Terrell Suggs," fellow linebacker Elvis Dumervil said. "He's a big emotional leader for our team. It hurts everybody whenever you hear news like that. We just hope he has a speedy recovery and that he gets through it."

Broncos defensive end Malik Jackson went out in the third with concussion-like symptoms. Denver defensive back Omar Bolden also left in the third with a foot injury.

Denver led 9-3 at the half behind field goals of 57, 56 and 43 yards by McManus, who became the second kicker in NFL history to make two 56-plus-yard field goals in the same game.

However, the struggles of the Broncos' offense were very much in evidence from the get-go. Baltimore held Denver to 114 yards in offense in the first two quarters, the second-fewest yards in a first half by a Manning-led Broncos offense.

Baltimore had problems of its own offensively, settling for a 52-yard field goal by Tucker for its only points in the first half.

NOTES: The Broncos were without starting SS T.J. Ward, who served a league-imposed one-game suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy. ... Also missing from Denver's defensive lineup was DE Derek Wolfe, who served the first game of a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing drugs. ... Former Chicago Bears coach Marc Trestman is in his first year as the Ravens' offensive coordinator, replacing Gary Kubiak, now head coach of the Broncos. ... The NFL debut of Baltimore's first-round pick is on hold for at least a week. WR Breshad Perriman, the 26th overall selection in the draft last spring, was among the Ravens' players deactivated for Sunday's season opener. Perriman has been dealing with a knee injury suffered at the beginning of training camp.