Patriots coach Bill Belichick talks with his defense during the first quarter of Monday’s night win over Denver. The Patriots scored 20 points off five turnovers as New England rebounded from a thrashing by San Diego the week before.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

FOXBORO — During a timeout in the closing minutes of New England’s 41-7 blowout victory over Denver — the largest Monday night victory in team history — the Patriots cheerleaders danced to a remixed version of Aretha Franklin’s Grammy Award-winning song “Respect” as it blared through the loudspeakers at the Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots danced to the song on the sidelines and celebrated their well-earned victory.

It seemed as if the Patriots were looking for a little respect of their own. After all, a few weeks ago Miami linebacker Joey Porter basically guaranteed that Miami would go into Gillette Stadium and leave victorious.

Porter and the Dolphins did beat the Patriots but the Pats then took out their frustrations on San Francisco after their bye week.

After beating San Francisco, however, the Patriots gave up 404 yards of total offense to the San Diego Chargers and suffered a 30-10 loss.

Several of the Patriots said that coach Bill Belichick challenged and pushed them all week to get ready for Denver. It was their opportunity to go out and earn some respect of their own.

And that’s what they did.

Belichick said that the Patriots had their best week of practice this season and it showed in all three phases of the game.

“I think the team is improving in every phase of the game,” Belichick said. “We just have to keep on that track and keep pushing it forward.”

The Patriots, led by Sammy Morris who gained a career-high 138 yards and a touchdown before leaving the game in the second quarter, steamrolled to the most rushing yards (257) in a game since Dec. 22, 1985.

“A lot of credit goes to the running backs,” offensive guard Logan Mankins said. “Sammy runs as good as anyone and as hard as anyone. He hits holes. Ben[-Jarvus Green-Ellis] gave us a nice spark tonight. We got to see what he can do and we liked what we saw.”

Green-Ellis, a rookie who had never carried the ball in a game, recorded 65 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.

“If we can run the ball like that we’ll be in good hands,” Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel said. “It starts with the running game up front: being physical, running the ball downhill, and those guys did such a great job with the ball in their hands. That really opens up the passing game because then you have to respect the run.”

Cassel had his best game of his career — 18-for-24 for 185 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.

“The more you run this offense the more comfortable you become,” Cassel said. “There’re a lot of details that you have to be on top of if you want to be successful, and each and every week I learn something and [I’m] just going to try to continue to grow and mature.”

Defensively the Patriots shut down a highly touted Broncos offense, which entered the game averaging nearly 400 yards and 28 points per outing.

“I like the emotion we played with [Monday night],” Patriots safety James Sanders said. “We were celebrating with our teammates and flying around making plays on both sides of the ball and that’s what we needed to do as a team to be successful.”

The Patriots forced five turnovers, including two on the Broncos’ opening two drives of the game, causing two fumbles by running back Andre Hall.

The Patriots converted both turnovers into field goals. Le Kevin Smith recovered the first fumble and rookie Jerod Mayo pounced on the second. Then with 25 seconds left in the first half, Mike Wright sacked Patrick Ramsey, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Patriots rookie linebacker Gary Guyton.

The defensive backs got into the act and Brandon Meriweather grabbed his team-high third interception of the year and Sanders also pulled down an interception.

The Patriots scored 20 points off the five turnovers.

“We went out [last] week and probably had our best week of practice all year,” Sanders said. “It showed [Monday night]. As a secondary, we took last week personally. We went out there and didn’t play very well. [Monday night] we came out and executed. You saw the outcome.”

On special teams, Chris Hanson placed all three of his punts inside Denver’s 20, and Wes Welker, who returned one punt 44 yards, averaged 21 yards per punt return to get New England in good field position.

The Patriots played with energy, emotion and a sense of urgency in all three phases of the game, which led to their decisive victory.

roblee@projo.com