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.
"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.
