Indianapolis Colts cornerback Darius Butler believes that his side rose to the challenge of shutting down the Denver Broncos offense in their divisional-round win in the playoffs.
The Broncos scored a touchdown after five minutes of the game when Peyton Manning found Demaryius Thomas in the endzone, but the Colts then held the home side to just six points in the remaining 55 minutes of the match to guide Chuck Pagano's men to a 24-13 victory.
"We had times during the year where we struggled and weren't playing well against the elite quarterbacks in the league," Butler told reporters.
"This was a big challenge we put on ourselves, as a team, as a defense and we stepped up to it."
The Colts will face the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game on Sunday.