Denver doesn't face teams like the Seahawks - their divisional match-ups are closer. I can't think off the top of my head the defenses they faced but I think Kansas City is the only one that was somewhat close and they fell off towards the end of the season.
Plus it was a finesse vs physical type of match-up and usually the finesse types don't fare well. Same is kinda true in basketball, Oklahoma City was the second highest scoring team that faced a physical defensive Miami Heat team. People were predicting sweeps for either OKC or San Antonio(the two highest scoring teams) based on the defensive bloodbaths against Indiana & Boston.
Probably the most famous example is when the Lakers were facing the Pistons after they were in a battle with the Pacers where they had scores of 69-67, 72-67, where the loser of individual games of the series scored over 70 twice in 6 games.
Texas Tech when they had Mike Leach is an extreme example of this as. College football in general is more finesse but teams like Stanford somehow shock people when they pound teams into submission.
on edit - one reason why I can't hate Alabama. They still use the i-formation and force teams to be physical, I start cheering hand-offs that break for first downs late in games against defenses that are noticeably tired and people around ask me why I'm cheering for Alabama?
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