Fitzgerald’s clutch off-screen throw helped perfect Super Bowl commercial

One of the best commercials during the Super Bowl was done by the NFL themselves.

In an ad taking place during a gala for the league’s 100th season, NFL stars and legends were all over the place.

Once Marshawn Lynch’s ill-advised swipe of cake put the ball on the ground, a game breaks out in the commercial.

The two-minute video includes several signature spots for players, including Barry Sanders evading tackles, Joe Montana throwing to Jerry Rice and Ed Reed making a big-time hit.

One of those was Patrick Mahomes making an underhanded throw to Odell Beckham Jr. for what Beckham is known for — a full extension one-handed grab.

But there’s a story behind that throw and who actually made it.

Joining The Rich Eisen Show on Feb, 19, the director of the ad Peter Berg revealed that it was a play difficult to set up.

“We had a stunt guy who was a quarterback trying to throw it so Odell could get up and really elevate and make a one-handed catch,” he said.

After 15 throws by the stunt guy, they could never get it right.

But thanks to the natural curiosity of Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, he would become the one to make the throw.

“Some of these players (are) such fascinating guys,” Berg said. “Larry Fitzgerald and Richard Sherman — such curious human beings. A lot of the players would come in and leave (but) Fitzgerald sat right by me for hours and he wanted to understand how we do we what we do and he asked 1,000 questions.

“We were trying to get the throw right for Odell and our guy couldn’t do it. We went 15 takes and Larry’s like, ‘I got this.’ He just walked in, looked at Odell, told Odell what the pattern (was) and hit it one take perfectly.”

As Eisen would go on to explain, quarterback legends like Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Peyton Manning were in the room but Fitzgerald was the one to make the throw, in one take no less.

Just another day for the legend.

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