Game Report: New England @ Indianapolis

Fred Mackaman

Game Date:  Sun Oct 18, 2015

Teams:  New England @ Indianapolis

Network:  NBC

You’re reading what I hope will be one of many Game Reports in which I document my growth as a novice NFL TV fan.  You can check here if you’d like to learn more about my plans.

Pregame Thoughts

I’m looking forward to this game — again because it might mean the end to an unbroken winning streak, this time that of the despised New England Patriots.  Their opponent is certainly the underdog here, having a worse record and doing poorly against New England last year.  So it would make a Colts’ victory that much more sweet.  I also have a new reason for hating the Patriots:  their owner is an investor in Draft Kings.  I read an article recently about the CEO of DraftKings hanging out in a their luxury suite at Patriots’ stadium during the first game of the season — not paying any attention to the game, but instead monitoring all the new signups on DraftKings.  Seems pretty fishy to me.

Sidebar:  Two of my other  teams are playing today — Seattle (whom I hate) and Denver (whom I love).  I hadn’t planned to watch the Seattle game but I happened to catch the last quarter of Denver @ Cleveland and caught the overtime victory of my Broncos.  Very exciting finish — thanks to McManus’s field goal that clinched the win.  Well done!

Overall Response

I did not remember that the Colts were the “Deflategate” team that lost to New England when the soft balls were used.  That added an element of drama to an already spirited competition.  Interesting how all of the Patriot players stayed on message when asked about “revenge:”  “it’s just another game,” they all said.  So — this game had a great first half for me and a very disappointing second half.  The Colts seemed to fall apart after their early lead in the first quarter and decisive lead at the half.  I didn’t pay a lot of attention once it became clear that Colts were going to lose — badly.

TV Razzle Dazzle

Didn’t note anything special.

Entertainment value

3/5.  The beginning of the game was fun for me to watch, but after the half I just wanted to go to bed.  Way too late on a school night.

Commercial commentary

  • 111 separate commercials, testosterone factor 5.0/7.0 (lowest so far, due largely to higher number of iPhone and Samsung ads which tend to be gender-neutral or skew female.
  • Biggest categories:  auto/truck and restaurants (especially McDonald’s breakfast).
  • Only one fantasy ad (FanDuel).

Interesting Extras

Coming out of commercials there was usually a bit of B-roll video dealing with Indianapolis points of interest:   the Indiana capitol, the Children’s Museum and others, most of which weren’t identified.  The deflategate theme was prominent in the stands and commentary:  a bakery offered a deflated football cake, lots of fans in flat ball hats, etc.  They spent some time reviewing Bill Belicheck’s long career — interesting to note that he was once with the Colts as a coach..

So much to learn

There’s still much that goes on that I don’t fully understand — the whole 1 & 10 and subsequent yardage and down calls aren’t clear to me.  I don’t know whether understanding that would make the game more enjoyable or not.

Points to Ponder

Nothing this time.

Here’s the commercial roster for the show.  I’ve sorted this one by category, but  you can also see which quarter the ads were telecast and in what order.  Remember, asterisks (*) mark commercials with a football theme (especially when the product advertised is NOT explicitly football-related).
Quarter Commercials:  New England @ Indianapolis, Sun Oct 18 2015, NBC (111 total) Category Ad Number Testosterone Factor (5.0/7.0)
3 Southwest Airline 64 3
HT Carmax (Local) Auto 52 4
2 Chevy Silverado Auto 36 6
HT Chrysler Auto 54 4
HT Dodge Ram Auto 60 7
4 Ford Auto 95 4
4 Ford F-150 Auto 88 7
4 Ford Focus Auto 94 3
4 Ford Fusion Auto 102 2
4 Ford Powerful by Design Auto 103 2
4 Ford Transit Auto 97 7
3 GMC Auto 86 7
1 KIA Sorento Auto 8 2
1 KIA Sorento* Auto 1 7
1 KIA Sorento* Auto 11 7
1 KIA Sorento* Auto 13 2
1 Nissan Maxima Auto 25 7
2 Nissan Maxima Auto 30 7
HT Toyota Tacoma Auto 56 7
3 Toyota Tacoma Auto 66 7
3 Toyota Tacoma Auto 67 7
3 Toyota Tacoma Auto 73 7
2 Bud Light* Beer 37 7
1 Budweiser Beer 19 6
1 Coors Light Beer 7 4
3 Coors Light Beer 81 4
HT Michelob Golden Light Beer 59 4
3 Michelob Ultra Beer 69 4
1 Verizon (Watt)* Cellphone 2 7
4 iPhone Cellphone 96 5
2 iPhone 6s Cellphone 45 3
4 iPhone 6s Cellphone 99 4
1 nexus Cellphone 22 4
1 Samsung Cellphone 14 4
4 Samsung Cellphone 100 1
1 Sprint/iPhone Cellphone 26 7
1 T-Mobile Cellphone 9 4
2 T-Mobile Cellphone 44 4
2 Verizon Cellphone 31 3
3 Verizon Cellphone 82 4
4 Verizon (Watt)* Cellphone 105 7
1 Surface Book Computer 5 2
2 Surface Book Computer 38 4
4 Surface Book* Computer 91 6
1 Bose Headphone (Wilson) Electronics 21 7
1 FanDuel Fantasy Football 27 7
1 Ameritrade (Luck)* Financial 15 6
1 Bank Americard Financial 23 4
1 Citi Cash Card* Financial 10 4
3 Navy Federal Credit Union Financial 79 6
1 USAA Financial 3 6
2 USAA Salute to Service Financial 46 4
1 Football Is Family Football 4 2
HT Football Is Family Football 55 4
4 Football Is Family Football 109 2
3 Manchester Derby Football 78 7
2 NFL Game Pass Football 32 7
3 NFL Now Football 83 7
HT NFL on Yahoo Football 61 7
HT NFL Turning Point Football 63 7
3 Sears Home Improvement 65 4
3 American Family Insurance 85 2
4 Geico Insurance 98 7
3 Nationwide (Manning)* Insurance 70 7
2 State Farm Insurance 34 4
4 State Farm Doublecheck Insurance 106 7
3 Burnt Movie 68 4
4 Jurassic World Movie 89 5
4 Jurassic World Movie 104 5
3 Last Witch Hunter Movie 80 6
2 Our Brand Is Crisis Movie 41 2
3 Spectre 007 Movie 74 6
HT LL Bean Outdoor Gear 51 4
1 North Face Outdoor Gear 17 2
4 Cialis Pharmaceuticals 107 5
1 McDonald’s Breakfast Restaurants 6 4
2 McDonald’s Breakfast Restaurants 35 4
3 McDonald’s Breakfast Restaurants 72 4
1 Olive Garden Restaurants 18 4
3 Papa Murphys* Restaurants 87 2
4 Subway Restaurants 90 4
2 Subway Life Coach* Restaurants 47 6
2 Direct TV Satellite TV 33 4
HT X1 Infinity Satellite TV 58 4
HT Jack Links Jerky Snacks 53 7
2 Pepsi (Lynch)* Soft drink 42 4
3 Puma Sportswear 77 7
3 Hulu Streaming TV 76 6
2 Blacklist TV Show 40 5
4 Blacklist TV Show 108 5
1 Blind Spot TV Show 16 6
HT Blindspot TV Show 50 6
4 Blindspot TV Show 110 6
3 Chicago Fire TV Show 71 4
HT Chicago Lives TV Show 57 5
3 Chicago PD TV Show 75 5
2 Grimm TV Show 49 5
2 Heroes Reborn TV Show 39 6
HT Heroes Reborn TV Show 62 7
1 Law & Order SVU TV Show 24 4
1 NASCAR TV Show 20 6
4 Rugby World TV Show 92 7
1 The Voice TV Show 12 4
4 Today Show TV Show 111 3
3 Truth Be Told TV Show 84 6
1 Undateable TV Show 28 4
2 GE Utilities 48 5
4 GE Utilities 93 4
4 Assassin’s Creed Video Game 101 7
2 Fallout 4 Video Game 43 7
2 Star Wars Battlefront Video Game 29 7