There were no secrets Monday night in Denver.The Broncos knew what to expect from Denver-turned-Houston quarterback Brock Osweiler, and Osweiler knew what to expect from the defense he faced in practice between 2012 and 2015. Osweiler had certainly prepared his teammates for Denver's offensive attack, and Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak and defensive coordinator Wade Phillips must have had a pretty good feel for a Texans defense they oversaw just three years ago.So this was always going to be about who could play better football, period.And it says a lot about the Broncos that with all the cards on the table, they won both battles in a 27-9 victory.Denver's world-famous D dominated Osweiler and the Houston offense, while Kubiak and offensive coordinatorRick Dennison were smart to go heavy on the ground against a defense that has been particularly vulnerable stopping the run without superstar defensive end J.J. Watt.Osweiler attempted 41 passes, but only 22 of those were completed, and only three produced more than nine yards. The coverage was stout enough to force him to go shallow all night, which was problematic for a Texans team that fell behind in the second quarter and was never able to climb back.With a combined 124 rushing yards, backs Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue weren't bad for the Texans on the ground. But they carried the ball only 22 times. It was obvious they were the only players who were going to beat the Broncos in this game, and Denver was cool with that.The approach paid off, and not just because Broncos safety Darian Stewart forced Blue to fumble in Denver territory in the third quarter. Broadly, it paid off because Denver's meat-and-potatoes approach on offense complemented that bend-but-don't-break, coverage-focused strategy on defense.Quarterback Trevor Siemian was just 3-of-7 for 15 yards during a trio of first-quarter three-and-outs, so Kubiak and Dennison went ground-and-pound shortly thereafter despite trailing 6-0. Backs C.J. Anderson andDevontae Booker ran a combined nine times for 66 yards on back-to-back second-quarter touchdown drives, and the Broncos never looked back.They outscored a 4-2, division-leading opponent 27-3 during the final three quarters, with Anderson and Booker finishing with a combined 190 yards on 33 carries. They controlled the ball, controlled the clock, controlled the tempo and won the turnover battle 2-0. It wasn't sexy, with Siemian completing just 14 of 25 passes for 157 yards, but sexiness didn't win the Broncos the Vince Lombardi Trophy last year.If they win the tough-as-nails AFC West for a sixth straight season in 2016, this is how they'll do it. And if they become the first NFL team in 12 years to win back-to-back championships, it'll happen like this.The Broncos know it. General manager John Elway realizes his team doesn't ride its quarterback's coattails. Denver won the Super Bowl last year despite possessing the second-lowest team passer rating in the NFL, and Elway willingly let Osweiler leave for big bucks in Houston.Only the Denver Broncos consistently win games with quarterback performances like those. It's theirmodus operandi.It's not as though that totally got away from them the previous two weeks. They dropped back-to-back games after a 4-0 start, but the first loss came without Siemian against a red-hot Atlanta Falcons team, while the second came on short rest on the road against the tougher-than-their-record division rival San Diego Chargers.Still, it's fair to wonder if a team that isn't too familiar with losing panicked after falling behind early in both of those affairs. That would explain why Siemian and Paxton Lynch threw a combined 85 passes in those losses, while Anderson and Booker ran the ball just 32 total times despite averaging a solid 4.6 yards per carry.Denver didn't fall into any traps Monday night. The Broncos knew their opponent well, knew deep down they were better than their opponent and didn't forget that when said opponent led 6-0 after one quarter. The defense kept applying pressure, kept forcing Osweiler underneath. Before long, they had the lead. And eventually, they forced two turnovers to pull away.That's the formula.Despite the two losses, they're recording more takeaways and fewer turnovers per game than they did last season. On paper, Siemian still looks like an upgrade over Osweiler and Peyton Manning, and the running game hasn't missed a beat.Monday night's victory didn't feel particularly special, and that's partly because we've been conditioned to think that special wins usually only come with special quarterback performances. But it's been a while since the Broncos won the way this era expects them to win.They win ugly, playing to their strengths and taking advantage of their opponents' weaknesses. That's exactly what they did Monday night against a mediocre, familiar quarterback and a defense that was without its best player.It won't always be so elementary, but an "ugly" three-score victory over a first-place team is always a good thing.The Broncos are at their best when they keep it simple, and that's exactly what happened against Houston. A couple more months of that and we'll again be looking at a division champion and a prime Super Bowl contender entering January.Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012. Follow @Brad_Gagnon
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