It was almost never easy for the Denver Broncos season, with an average margin of victory less than a touchdown, style points were non-existent outside of a 29-10 blowout of the Green Bay Packers. Luckily for Denver, style points don’t count for anything in the NFL Playoffs, ugly wins, scrappy play, kicking and screaming if you will, that’s the stuff that get’s it done this time of year, and the Broncos are well versed.

“Thing that I’m most excited about is over the course of our season, we’ve had to win games different ways,” head coach Gary Kubiak said Saturday. “To show up on Sunday and know that you can get it done in three different phases, whatever type of game you play in — low-scoring game, high-scoring game, overtime game, whatever. We’ve been there all year long and all those various types of football games. What’s coming up next? I don’t know, but I know we’re going to have to play well, and that’s our mindset.”

10 of the Broncos 12 wins came by a touchdown or less, four of which coming against teams that made the playoffs. Denver was 4-2 against those teams in the regular season, their only losses coming against the Chiefs and, their next opponent, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kubiak believes that also tempered the steel in their armour.

“I was looking today. I think we have played four or five of the playoff football teams throughout the course of the year, some big games,” remembered the coach. “Those things get you ready to play for these types of games that are coming up, but it’s a clean slate. You kind of look around the league. You see a lot of teams getting a little healthier, getting some guys back. I think it’s different, and I think understanding the difference of what you’re embarking upon is very important.”

The playoffs are unpredictable but it usually comes down to who makes plays in the biggest moments. Between their experience in playoffs past and the iron man of a regular season this team faced, they’re as primed as you can be for those moments when they arise.