Brock Osweiler wasn’t warming up so he could say, “Hi mom!” on TV.

The rookie quarterback was coming in if the Broncos got the ball back in the final seconds of their game Monday night against Atlanta.

“I was going in for the Hail Mary,” Osweiler said. “I’m not sure what the dividing line was as far as me going in, but I was getting ready to go in.”

Osweiler started warming up around the 2-minute warning with the Atlanta Falcons up 27-21. The Falcons had the ball at their 31, first-and-10 and a late punt likely would have given Denver the ball around its 25-yard line or so with seconds remaining.

Even on his best day, Broncos starting quarterback Peyton Manning couldn’t outchuck the 6-foot-7, strong-armed Osweiler.

Osweiler would have to wait another time for his first NFL action, though, as Falcons’ running back Michael Turner gained 15 yards with 1:54 remaining, allowing Atlanta to run out the clock with two kneel downs by quarterback Matt Ryan.

Meanwhile, a day after John Fox nearly blew two or three gaskets trying to sort out the officiating from his team’s loss Monday night, the Broncos’ coach had calmed to the point he would not air his grievances publicly.

“I get upset with officials anytime a call goes against us,” Fox said by conference call Tuesday. “That’s not new for me. It’s a competitive game played by competitive people.”

The primary difference in the game was Manning threw three, first-quarter interceptions for only the second time in his 15-year career while Ryan delivered a turnover-free, two touchdown pass performance.

The Falcons took a 27-7 lead into the fourth quarter, but Manning added two touchdown drives that brought the Broncos within “Hail Mary” distance.

The on-field performance that generated the most discussion Tuesday morning, though, was that of the replacement officials. Among other problems, a defensive holding penalty against the Falcons was marked off as an 11-yard gain for the Broncos when it should have been 5.

There also was a fumble recovery awarded to the Falcons when it appeared the Broncos came away with it, a controversy that included a lengthy pushing, shoving and shouting exchange between players, Broncos coaches and the officials.

“In this game, you win or lose, you’ve got to try to overcome a lot of different things,” Fox said. “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 also made changes to the back-end of their roster Tuesday, placing rookie center-guard Philip Blake on injured reserve and calling up guard-center C.J. Davis from the practice squad.

Davis had been demoted from the 53-man roster to the practice squad last week. Offensive tackle Adam Grant was signed back to the practice squad, where he had spent his rookie season of 2011.

Blake, a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft, had not been active in the Broncos’ two games. He suffered an injury during practice Friday.

Mike Klis: 303-954-1055, mklis@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mikeklis