ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Peyton Manning knew the questions were coming. But he didn’t want any part of them.

The Denver Broncos’ divisional-round showdown Sunday will be portrayed through the lens of Manning facing the team that he led for 14 seasons, the Indianapolis Colts. And it represents the confluence of the game’s past and future, with Andrew Luck beating out Peyton Manning by one touchdown pass to lead the league in 2014.

“I think there is a level of intrigue, certainly, for people on the outside,” said tight end Jacob Tamme, a fellow-ex Colt. “I think when you’re in here and you’re going through these meetings and you’re preparing for the football game, it actually makes it a little easier. You don’t really sit around and think and talk about the things that you guys (the media) sit around and think and talk about.”

What they talk about inside the Broncos’ meeting rooms are matchups.

Manning isn’t facing Luck. He’s facing the Colts’ defense, which looks entirely different than it did as recently as 2011, his last season with the Colts. Luck must contend with the Broncos’ defense, which allowed just 16 points per game in the last five weeks of the season — a figure that would have been two full points lower if long punt and kickoff returns had not set up two scores.

“I don’t think he looks at it as, ‘That’s Luck, (owner Jim) Irsay, and all the history I had over there.’ That’s all in the past,” running back C.J. Anderson said. “He knows that’s what gave him his name. But that’s all done. He’s just going out there and trying to win a football game.

“The team color could be pink, purple, gray, black — as long as it isn’t orange and blue, he’s going to attack it the way he’s attacked every other team in the league.”

Manning got the emotion of facing his old team out of his system in Week 7 of the 2013 season, when he and the Broncos returned to Indianapolis and he received a video tribute and a standing ovation before the Broncos’ 39-33 loss. And while a regular-season opener and a playoff matchup would hardly qualify under the category of “just another game,” it’s clear that he’s long since worked the emotions out of his system.

“We’ve kind of covered that, right?” Manning said. “I’ve been here with Denver three years. It’s the third time we’ve played them. Obviously, last year, when we want back (to Indianapolis) to play, I understand that was kind of a unique story. But we played them in this regular season.”

“We’ve been down that road enough times already,” coach John Fox added. “This is the third time, so I think it’s kind of old hat.”

It’s old hat in the regular season; but, in the playoffs, matchups like this are rare. Manning is the first quarterback to face the team he led to a Super Bowl win in a postseason game since Ken Stabler led the Houston Oilers into a wild-card game at Oakland in 1980. The Oilers lost 27-7 as Oakland intercepted Stabler twice, including one returned for a game-clinching touchdown by the sticky-fingered Lester Hayes.

The Broncos hope for a different outcome this time.

SERIES HISTORY: Third postseason meeting, 24th overall meeting. The Broncos lead 12-9 in the regular season. The Colts lead 2-0 in the postseason. Indianapolis has won six of the last seven overall. The most historic meeting between these two teams was on Jan. 4, 2004, when the Colts trampled the Broncos 41-10 in the wild-card round.