In March 2007 , Cheadle starred with comedian Adam Sandler in Mike Binder 's '' Reign Over Me '' , a comedy-drama about a man who has slipped away from reality after the death of his wife and three daughters in 9/11 . The film was a box office flop , earning a domestic gross of $ 22.2 million . Cheadle later starred in the 2009 DreamWorks Pictures film '' Hotel for Dogs '' . Cheadle was to make his directorial debut with the adaptation of Elmore Leonard 's '' Tishomingo Blues '' , but in July 2007 he stated , " ' Tishomingo ' is dead ... " Cheadle appeared in NFL commercials promoting the Super Bowl from 2002 to 2005 . He so regularly appeared for the NFL in its Super Bowl advertising that in 2006 , in a drive to get fans to submit their own advertising ideas , the NFL sought his permission to reference his previous commercials to portray themselves as having no new ideas : " he quickly signed off on the idea and found it funny . " Abe Sutton ( along with Etan Bednarsh ) , one of the finalists in this NFL contest , played on this commercial by proposing an ad where every player on a football team is Don Cheadle
9/11
September 11 attacks
Don Cheadle