Previous Meeting With Patriots Gives Broncos Some Confidence

DENVER (CBS4) - Football is about far more than just a battle between two players.

Just ask Broncos tight end Owen Daniels, who says there's a whole lot more to Sunday's AFC Championship game between the Broncos and the Patriots than Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

"Those guys are the quarterbacks of this game, but it's the New England Patriots versus the Denver Broncos. Our team hasn't been, like, shooting the lights out offensively. It's been a very well rounded team this season. Great defense, great operations on special teams, and the offense has been finding ways to get it done when we need to get it done," Daniels said.

"It's going to be another one of those team games where it takes everyone to get it done."

The Broncos have some familiarity with the Patriots, having won in overtime on by a score of 30-24 on Nov. 29.

"We have a little bit of confidence that we were able to take care of business at home the last time we played them in some crazy weather conditions and in a game where we were down two scores at one point," Daniels said. "For us to be able to know that we can fight back against a team like that in those types of situations and still be able to get a win gives us confidence going into this game."

Defensive lineman Malik Jackson said this week that while there is some confidence from that regular season win, "at the same time it's a new game, new situation."

"They know us this year, we know them this year, so I think they might have some different things coming," Jackson said.