Today, National Football League playing sites enjoy near perfect weather conditions on this November Sunday, with the only exception being the game played in Seattle where the Seahawks and Detroit Lions will encounter occasional showers.

Ok, no excuses because of weather for teams.

How about injuries?

The Indianapolis Colts have the most dramatic setbacks in this area while losing a pair of defensive backs.  Bob Sanders is out for the season due to a muscle injury he sustained in last week’s home win over the San Francisco 49ers that required surgery, and also placed on IR and lost for the season is cornerback Marlin Jackson.

The Colts opponent today, the Houston Texans, also suffered a setback though injuries to both their starting and backup tightends. Perhaps the most significant injury facing either the Colts or Texans today is the loss of Owen Daniels, the Texans starting tightend who is in his fourth season out of Wisconsin and both a solid blocker and receiver.

Ok, the Colts and Texans both could use injuries as an excuse today if Indianapolis stumbles against a team that they have beaten 13 times straight-up in their 14 all-time meetings. Against the spread, the Colts have a losing mark in those same 14 games of 6-7-1, although they are 4-3 as a home favorite … and that is what they are today.

So, is everyone betting on the undefeated Colts?

Nope.

One of the most bet on teams of the day is the Texans plus the generous point spread, the visitors are getting 9-points at Lucas Oil Stadium … and Houston has the second most money wagered on them nationally. Three teams have greater imbalances on percentage of wagers versus an opponent as determined by the public, and they begin with the Atlanta Falcons (-9) over the Washington Redskins, second is the Green Bay Packers (-10) over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the third most popular play by the wagering public is the San Francisco 49ers (-4) over the Tennessee Titans.

Teams that have excuses for losses are most often teams that are going to lose again next week. But, if there is such a thing as a real excuse for losing, I contend it revolves around a tough motivational spot … and today we have a perfect case in point.

The Green Bay Packers were geared up for last week’s historic battle at Lambeau Field against Brett Favre and his Minnesota Vikings squad … and even though they lost at home on Sunday to Minnesota, they showed character in beating the Cleveland Browns the week before that matchup in convincing fashion, 31-3. That Green Bay victory followed a Week Six win by Aaron Rodgers and his Green Bay teammates over the Detroit Lions, 26-0.

You get the sense that the Packers are good at beating bad teams … but even bad teams can offer real threats when they come packaged in circumstances that feed their motivation and trap an opponent. Next week Green Bay hosts the Dallas Cowboys, and last week they hosted the Vikings … don’t you know they had full focus for their game against Minnesota, and could already be looking ahead to a game they no doubt anticipate will be a highly contested battle against Dallas next Sunday at Lambeau Field.

But, between those two monumental battles, the Packers have to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road in a game they hardly think requires their full attention. After all, Tampa Bay hasn’t won a game this year, and today they are starting rookie quarterback Josh Freeman, who looked horrible in preseason and appears to be thrown to the wolves today to begin his learning process for a team that has already surrendered any hope for success this season.

But, the Buccaneers have had two weeks to prepare for Green Bay, and they don’t have their attention anywhere other than the need to work as hard as possible to avoid getting blown out by the much more cohesive Packers. Fear of failure is the best motivator of all … and today it clearly belongs to the underdog home Bucs.

One may think that once an NFL campaign gets to the ninth week of regular season play backing a winless squad is pure folly. But, truth is that since 1998 seven teams have entered ninth week action without a straight-up win, and all seven of them beat the point spread in their Week Nine matchup.

The Buccaneers are a play for all the right reasons … and it has very little to do with the talent gap between them and the Packers.

All the rated plays for the day are now posted on this site, if a Bullet Play emerges in the hour leading up to the first kickoff, it will be added to the play list at 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time.