Brock Osweiler was set to replace Peyton Manning on Monday night. He never got the chance.
Had the Denver Broncos forced a punt in the final minute of Monday's 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, Osweiler was in line to make one final desperation heave toward the end zone.
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"I was going in for the Hail Mary," Osweiler said Tuesday, via The Denver Post. "I'm not sure what the dividing line was as far as me going in, but I was getting ready to go in."
Osweiler began warming up on the sidelines late in the fourth quarter, but Michael Turner's 15-yard run with 1:54 remaining allowed the Falcons to run out the clock.
This can viewed as an indictment of Manning's arm strength -- and surely it will be -- but the Broncos might have needed a 70-plus yard bomb to reach the end zone in a Hail Mary situation.
The Peyton Manning of 2002 couldn't do that, let alone the surgically remodeled version of 2012. At 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds, Osweiler was the hoss for the job.
Of course, if the Broncos were set up at midfield and Osweiler still trotted out, we're talking about a different story. Alas, we'll never know.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @danhanzus.
