ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – In the last three seasons, the Denver Broncos have faced their longtime AFC West rival Kansas City Chiefs six times. Simple NFL math, really: Division foe, usually two matchups a season. In 2013, the Broncos faced the San Diego Chargers three times, with the two AFC West meetings in the regular season to go with last January’s divisional round playoff game.

Denver Broncos players and coaches say playing the New England Patriots offers the same we-know-them, they-know-us headaches an AFC West team would bring.

And that's because, through winning, schedule rotation and the postseason, the Broncos have faced New England almost as much as they've faced their own AFC West brethren. In the previous three seasons, the Broncos have faced the Patriots five times – three times in the regular season, twice in the playoffs -- and Sunday's game with be the sixth time in the last four seasons.

“I don’t know if it’s a good thing that I’m old enough to go back to the AFC East or if it’s bad thing," said Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. “It means I’m old because we played them twice a few years before Tom [Brady] was playing back then. But even once we changed divisions when I was Indianapolis, we were playing them every year, and twice [in] three of those years, and of course played them twice last year. It’s a credit to the Patriots for being in the mix every single season and their consistency in their head coach with Coach [Bill] Belichick and their coordinators and their consistency with Tom Brady at quarterback. They’re always in the hunt, they’re always there and they’re playing really well right now."

Because it’s far more difficult to toss a new wrinkle at a divisional foe that knows you the best, it has been difficult for the Patriots and the Broncos to outright fool each other. Things usually come down to the old-school football maxims of whistle-to-whistle discipline and turnovers.

“We’ve played these guys so much, it’s like a division opponent, really," said Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. “We’ve played them quite a bit. I think they’re pretty familiar with us as well."

By the time each team’s offensive and defensive assistants have broken down the personnel groupings and personnel tendencies for each team before each meeting, before each team’s coaching staff has then made game plans for each of those games, even the football intel a former player can offer is even muted a bit.

Del Rio said he’s talked to cornerback Aqib Talib, who played for the Patriots for a season-and-a-half following a 2012 trade from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the Broncos essentially had all of the information already.

"There are some things that he confirmed," Del Rio said. “Certainly little tips on individual players, things like that. But there is plenty of work to do without spending your whole time trying to pick his brain."

So, with Sunday’s meeting and another possible postseason meeting in January to go with another regular-season meeting in 2015 if both teams finish in first place again, it’s going to be a while before the Patriots don’t feel like a divisional opponent.

“It’s a great matchup of two of the better teams in the league," Del Rio said. “We’ve earned this because we’ve ended up in first place. It’s a first-place schedule that we both play. So two good teams that are going at it. So we look forward to the challenge.”

It's a good problem to have, Manning said.

“Somebody was asking me if I ever see the schedule come out and say, ‘Boy, I wish we didn’t have to play them again,’ but in reality they’re always winning the division, they’re always there and so if you’re going to play them, for the main reason we’ve played them so many times is because we’ve won the division the year before also," Manning said. “So it’s a challenging consequence of being a good team the year before; that’s what you want. You want to win the division. It gives you the chance to get in the playoffs, gives you the chance to win a world championship. That’s kind of your goal every year."