Brock Osweiler warmed up to replace Peyton Manning during Denver Broncos 27-21 loss to Atlanta Falcons - NFL News
The final few minutes of the fourth quarter wind down as running back Willis McGahee scores a second rushing touchdown to bring the Broncos just one scoring play behind to win the game.
Veteran quarterback Peyton Manning did not have a great game as he had thrown three interceptions for just the second time in his long and illustrious career.
On the side-lines young backup quarterback, Brock Osweiler was warming up to replace Manning and send the final heave into the end zone on Denver’s next possession to try and win the game if the Falcons decided to punt.
However, that opportunity never came as Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner gained 15 yards to keep possession with the Falcons with just 1:54 remaining in the final quarter.
Falcons quarterback, Matt Ryan who had an impressive outing ran down the clock and secured a brilliant win over the Broncos.
In an interview with the Denver Post on Tuesday Osweiler admitted that he would have been sent on for the Hail Mary if Denver had gained possession.
"I was going in for the Hail Mary.”
Adding further he said:
"I'm not sure what the dividing line was as far as me going in, but I was getting ready to go in."
This decision by the coaches though cannot be seen as a question mark on Manning’s arm strength though.
If the Falcons had punted the Broncos would have had to throw a Hail Mary more than 70 yards a distance which Peyton Manning could never achieve even during his prime and Osweiler seemed the logical choice for the final heave should it come.
The game was marred by some poor refereeing decisions by the replacement officials but Coach John Fox who had looked visibly frustrated during the game did not wish to publicly question the officials and told the newspaper:
"In this game, you win or lose, you've got to try to overcome a lot of different things. What we report to the league, our comments on that, is in-house material. I can't comment and won't as far as what we did and what we didn't do, what was right and what
was not right. That's pretty much our policy."
The Broncos face the Texans on Sunday in week 3.
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