The long awaited return of Brock Osweiler, who is more commonly known in Broncos Country as Brent, has come and gone in the blink of an eye.

A part of me is somewhat sad.

I like Brent. I think he has a lot of talent that is just waiting to be uncorked.

I mean, who else can throw a fumble with a tighter spiral than Brent? Anyone?

Refs made correct call on Brock Osweiler's fumble on #MNF. Empty hand. pic.twitter.com/BI43afcGwI — Jon Heath (@JonHeathNFL) October 25, 2016

He also has an incredible sense of humor.

Who else would waltz back into the confines of their previous employer and totally lay an egg only verifying management’s decision to let them go?

Only someone with the true comprehension of satirical humor. Osweiler is just a true comedian polishing his craft.

In what was ultimately a complete domination by the Broncos’ defense, fans can put that panic button in the drawer for the time being. The Broncos got a much needed win, and they did so in suffocating fashion releasing some of the tension built up after a two-game losing streak.

Let’s take a look at four takeaways from Denver’s dismantling of Brent and his companions.

1. Osweiler’s return to Denver went pretty much as expected

Did anyone expect anything other than a poor performance out of Osweiler?

After leaving the Mile High City to join a system he felt gave him the best chance to win longterm, which is still more confusing than the final episode of LOST considering Denver has a majority of their defensive core sealed up through 2019, Broncos’ fans had this game circled on their calendars for months knowing that it was going to be a complete and utter decimation.

For some reason, there is just something invigorating about burning an ex-lover. And tonight was no different.

Osweiler struggled nearly the entire 60 minutes, only breaking the 100-yard marker late into the fourth quarter. However, he did manage to avoid throwing any interceptions for the first time this season. It’s the little victories that mean the most, am I right?

Only completing a mere 54 percent of his passes for 131 yards, Brent posted a 60.1 passer rating, his second worst of the season. This seems to be par for the course as he now has three of the four games with the fewest passing yards this season with a minimum of 40 attempts.

Brock Osweiler has 3 of the 4 games with the fewest Pass yards this season with a minimum of 40 attempts. pic.twitter.com/egD3TW5ndU — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 25, 2016

The ‘No Fly Zone’ continued their stifling performance against opposing wide outs by holding the always-threatening DeAndre Hopkins to a pathetic 36-yards receiving on five catches, and limiting rookie receiver Will Fuller to only 22 yards on four receptions. The entire night can be summed up in one play. On a third down and three in Houston territory, Osweiler connected with Fuller on a quick-hitter. Fuller was immediately tackled by cornerback Aqib Talib for a two-yard gain forcing the Texans to punt.

This may sound meaningless and unimportant, but the Broncos’ secondary was so good that even on the most basic of quick passing plays set to get as little as three yards, Denver was able to hold them to two. This was the story of the night for Osweiler, who posted a pitiful 3.2 yards per completion.

Although forever grateful for his contributions last season, Broncos’ fans can sleep a little deeper knowing they got the last laugh in this break-up. And boy is it sweeter than anticipated.

2. Is the running game back from their hiatus?

The Broncos running game has been on a strict, four-game hiatus.

Although the rushing attack was fairly productive early on this season, Denver managed an abysmal 3.25 yards per carry over the last four weeks. Part of the reason can be pinned on the injuries to offensive tackle Donald Stephenson and tight end Virgil Green, who are both intricate assets in the running game, but is certainly not the sole basis for their struggles. The offensive line has been a train wreck, in both the running and passing game, and backs C.J. Anderson and Devontae Booker have struggled to find and kind of space to be productive.

But something clicked against the Texans.

Without defensive monster J.J. Watt in the lineup for Houston, the Broncos were able to open up holes for their shifty running backs nearly all night. Anderson was able to break the 100-yard barrier for the first time this season by picking up 107 yards on the ground on 16 carries. He also was responsible for Denver’s first touchdown of the game. Booker followed suit by posting 83 yards on 17 carries and not only captured the first touchdown of his career, but also the Broncos’ first touchdown in the third quarter this season.

This offense is not set up like it was in the Manning-era. The Broncos are not going to exploit opponents through the air all game and use the rush as a supplemental attack. The running game is the focal point of this offense.

When the rushing attack is successful, the passing game becomes a major threat. Without one component, the other struggles immensely. It was very good to see the Broncos get the running game going that we have been looking for all season.

It will be interesting to see if this was a phenomenon, or if the Broncos can maintain this rushing attack against a top-ten rushing defense in the Chargers.

3. Someone, somewhere, still thinks that Trevor Siemian is not the answer this season

The success of the Broncos’ running game took a lot of pressure off of quarterback Trevor Siemian. After a game in which he fired the ball 50 times, while dealing with an AC joint injury, Siemian was able to cut his attempts in half against the Texans. The Broncos are surely more comfortable with fewer attempts.

Aside from playing a majority of the game with the lead, Anderson and Booker were able to provide a majority of the offensive production taking the pressure off of Siemian to spark the offense. He did what he does best, find the conservative target and avoid a colossal mistake.

Siemian finished the night by only completing 56 percent of his passes for 157 yards and a touchdown. He certainly wasn’t perfect. There were several times that he was more inaccurate than replay analyst and former official Mike Carey, but he also didn’t get much help from his wide outs.

Aside from Demaryius Thomas dropping every third pass, receiver Jordan Norwood let a perfectly thrown ball go to waste as he oddly only tried to get one foot in bounds while in the Houston end zone. If Norwood just taps his toe, Siemian finishes with a much more aesthetically pleasing passer rating of 105.42.

Although not perfect, Siemian played his role perfectly. It is time for the stragglers, like myself at one point, to get behind the guy.

4. The defense has got to figure out how to stop the running game

The ‘No Fly Zone’ played tremendously against the Texans, but once again the defense could not stop the running game. Between Alfred Blue and Lamar Miller, the Texans were able to scrounge up 124 yards on 22 carries, and were easily the only bright spot in the Houston offense.

The Broncos are now giving up nearly 117 rushing yards per game, far from the 83.6 yards per game they were allowing on the ground last season. Although Denver is only giving up 175 yards a game, ranked first in the NFL, it is clear that their achilles heel is defending the rush.

A large part of these struggles comes from losing Malik Jackson to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but it is certainly not an excuse. While the Broncos’ front seven has been unbelievable in pass-rush scenarios, they are going to have to find a way to fill the void in defending the rushing attack one way or another.

With a top-15 rushing team like the Chargers coming into Denver next week, now is as good of time as any to start defending the run.