Weekly Q&A with Doc's Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza 12/13/2016

by Doc's Sports - 12/13/2016

It's crunch time in the NFL with a playoff picture that still remains rather foggy with just three weeks left in the regular season. In this week's discussion with Doc's Sports expert handicapper Raphael Esparza, we are hoping that he can add some clarity to the situation with his own NFL power rankings for the top five teams in the league.

Raphael first made a name for himself as one of the top sports handicappers in the nation during a long and successful career in the Las Vegas sportsbook industry. At one point, the former Vegas Sports Informer held the prestigious position as the Director of the Race and Sports Book for MGM Grand's Aria until his retirement in 2013. These days he spends most of his time running a successful and diverse sports investment service from his home base in Las Vegas as well as from the Big Easy in New Orleans. The following is this week's Q&A with one of Doc's most interesting handicappers.

Doc's Sports: We have been tracking the betting public's wins and losses against the Las Vegas sportsbooks all season in the NFL, and bettors have been getting the best of things over the past few weeks. With the favorites covering in 60 percent of the NFL games in Week 14, did this winning streak continue?

RE: It has been rough month or so for the books in town. The losses this week started to pile up on Sunday afternoon with heavy money on Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Washington. While the public was all over Dallas, some earlier wise guy money on New York helped to even things out. The losses kept mounting up and down the strip with New England's cover on Monday night.

Doc's Sports: New England and Kansas City are in position to claim the top two playoff spots in the AFC and, despite Sunday night's loss, Dallas is still in solid shape as the No. 1 seed in the NFC. If you had to put together a list of your top five NFL teams heading into some crucial Week 15 matchups, which ones would make the cut?

RE: It would be hard to not have New England at the top of the list considering the way it keeps winning games while covering the spread. Next would be Dallas with a slight edge over Kansas City given the Cowboys' overall talent on offense. I would probably have Oakland as my fourth-best team followed by Pittsburgh. The Steelers are healthy right now and starting to gel as a team that could be in position to make a deep run in the playoffs.

Doc's Sports : The extensive 2016 bowl season in college football gets underway this Saturday with the first round of games. Included on the slate in your own backyard is the Las Vegas Bowl between the Mountain West's San Diego State Aztecs and the AAC's Houston Cougars. Houston is listed as a 3.5-point favorite with most of the books in town, so which way are you leaning in this one?

RE: I am really excited for this game as well as this Saturday's New Orleans Bowl between Southern Miss and Louisiana-Lafayette. As far as the Las Vegas Bowl, I would definitely lean towards San Diego State and its power running game. I think the public has more to do with the spread in this game than the actual matchup on the field. As far as the New Orleans Bowl, I would have to lean slightly towards the Golden Eagles as four-point favorites even though the Ragin' Cajuns have the home-field edge.

Doc's Sports : Another great way to add even more betting action to this season's college bowl schedule is by wagering on any number of prop bets that are released in conjunction with the games. Have any special college bowl props out there caught your eye given the value in their betting odds?

RE: There are some really great props out there for college bowl season, but I am so busy handicapping every game on the schedule that time does not permit me to dig too deep into these types of bets. That being said, this is still a great way to add some more excitement to the games.

Doc's Sports: One of the highest-profile fighters in MMA returns to action after a long hiatus at the end of the month when Ronda Rousey squares off against Amanda Nunes in UFC 207 on Dec. 30. Do you have any early thoughts on how to bet on this fight?

RE : This is a really big bout for the UFC given some of the issues it had to face this year with tough injuries and unexpected suspensions to some of its top fighters. To me, that automatically adds value to Rousey's current odds, but this is still going to be a tough bout. While she is an incredible grappler given her size, she could be in trouble if Nunes is bent on turning this into a toe-to-toe boxing match.

Click here to visit Raphael Esparza's Insider's Page at Doc's Sports for more information on his amazingly-profitable sports handicapping picks. Also, get $60 worth of Esparza's member's picks absolutely free - no obligation, no sales people - you don't even have to enter credit card information. You can use this $60 credit for any sport Esparza handicaps. Click here for $60 worth of free picks from Raphael Esparza .

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