ESPN’s ‘NFL Live’ crew is never afraid to poke fun at each other, and while discussing Jayden Daniels’ incredible Hail Mary to beat the Bears on Monday afternoon, Marcus Spears decided to take a crack at Dan Orlovsky.
Spears said the Commanders wouldn’t have had a shot at that Hail Mary with Dan at quarterback cause he couldn’t have thrown the ball that far. Later in the show, the research team found Dan’s longest throw of his career was 54 air yards, which Ryan Clark called “a helluva throw” but Spears dismissed as a “wake up”, continuing to throw some barbs Dan’s way. That led to a challenge for Spears to back up his talk by doing it himself, since he and Clark were on site in Pittsburgh for Monday Night Football, and Spears went out and did it on his first attempt, firing a ball 54 yards to Stanford Steve that had the crew stunned.
.@DanOrlovsky7 challenged @mspears96 to throw a 54-yard pass (Dan's career-high air yards) 👀
Does Swagu have the arm? 💪 pic.twitter.com/TwAzmhM16v
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) October 28, 2024
It should be noted that Spears is an all-time great Louisiana high school athlete in both football and basketball, so it probably shouldn’t be a shock that he can absolutely rip a pass. That said, to do it in a dress shirt with no warm up is wildly impressive. Orlovsky could only chuckle and admit “that one’s tough, man” as his ego took a significant hit. I will say, a recurring bit of Marcus Spears attempting various feats of strength would be a great addition to ‘NFL Live’, but it’d be hard to top this moment.