If the Denver Broncos had gotten the ball back in the final moments of Monday night’s game against the Falcons, it would have been backup quarterback Brock Osweiler and not Peyton Manning attempting the Hail Mary.
“I was going in for the Hail Mary,” Osweiler told 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.”
The moment never came as the Falcons were able to run out the clock. Manning finished the loss at Atlanta 24 for 37 for 241 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. All three picks came in the first quarter.
Those early interceptions against Atlanta on Monday night matched the most turnover-riddled quarter of football Manning has played in his 15-year career. They put Denver into too big of a hole to dig out of in what turned into a 27-21 loss.
Asked after the game if the interceptions had more to do with his surgically repaired neck or his decision making, Manning wasted no time.
“Decision making,” he said.
But there was some zip missing on some of those intermediate-distance passes and there were a few wobblers mixed in there, as well, including on his lone touchdown pass, to Demaryius Thomas near the end of the first half.
Coach John Fox said Manning was not on the injury report when the team returned home Tuesday.
–ESPN
