Weekly Q&A with Doc's Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza 1/3/2017

by Doc's Sports - 1/3/2017

This season's College Football Playoff Championship Game next Monday night is a rematch of last year's title game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers. In this week's discussion with Doc's Sports expert handicapper Raphael Esparza , we will get his take on how he sees this year's game playing out. Also as a new feature for 2017, we will be checking in on 'Raphael's Betting Radar' for one of his best opportunities each week to post a winning ticket.

Known as the Vegas Sports Informer during a long and successful career in the Las Vegas sportsbook industry, Raphael rose through the ranks to hold 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 continues to split his time between Las Vegas and the Big Easy in New Orleans running a successful and diverse sports investment service. The following is this week's Q&A with one of Doc's most interesting handicappers.

Doc's Sports: The betting public got the best of the Las Vegas sportsbooks for the better part of the NFL regular season. With the last round of games being played this past Sunday, which side started the New Year on a winning note?

RE: The feedback that I am getting is that the sportsbooks in town posted a small gain even with New England and Green Bay winning big. The fact that the NFL games fell on New Year's Day kept the overall handle at the betting windows pretty low, which also worked in the books' favor.

Doc's Sports: Both the Oakland Raiders and the Houston Texans have serious question marks at the quarterback position heading into this Saturday's Wild Card Round matchup. Any tips on how to handicap this game with no clear starter set for either team?

RE: This is the kind of matchup that you simply do not bet on. Both teams are going to struggle to move the ball down field and score points, but it is really hard to say which team goes on to win. If Oakland can get its run game going early, I would give the Raiders the slight edge.

Doc's Sports : The best game of this weekend's NFL wild card games pits the New York Giants on the road against the Green Bay Packers late Sunday afternoon. Both these teams were playing their best ball of the season down the stretch, so which one keeps things rolling into next week's Divisional Round?

RE: New York has been playing solid ball, but I would have to rank Green Bay as the hottest team in the NFL right now. Aaron Rodgers is playing lights out and a healthy Clay Matthews has the Packers' defense also playing at a very high level. If Green Bay can build any kind of early lead this game, it should win both straight up and against the spread with relative ease.

Doc's Sports : Both Alabama and Clemson looked pretty impressive in their semifinal matchups in this past Saturday's College Football Playoff semifinals. Heading into this game, the Tide are 6.5-point favorites with most of the books right now. However, do the Tigers have what it takes to get the straight up win this time around?

RE: Both the spread (Alabama -6.5) and the total line (51.5) are almost identical to last year's matchup. While I will probably remain on the sidelines as far as a play on the spread, I would possibly take a harder look at the "under"in this game. Alabama's shakeup on offense with Lane Kiffin out of the picture could have a bigger impact than expected and both teams are playing extremely well on defense.

Doc's Sports: Since you have been able to establish yourself as one of the most diverse handicappers in the country when it comes betting on wide range of events, what is on your betting radar this week as far as a "best bet" play?

RE : My top play of the week would be the James Madison Dukes over the Youngstown State Penguins in this Saturday's Division IAA (FCS) Championship. I do not have any posted betting lines yet. However, JMU minus seven points or less is what I am looking for in the spread, and I would go with the over on a 59-point betting line when it comes to the total.

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 .

Pick:	CHICAGO BEARS +3
Start:	November 24, 2024 @ 1:00 PM
Expert:	Doc's Sports

Analysis:

Free Play from Doc’s Sports. Take #256 Chicago Bears +3 over Minnesota Vikings (1p.m., Sunday, November 24 FOX) We used the Bears as a free play winner last Sunday and easily covered the spread and should have been an underdog outright winner. Now we will ride them for a second straight week against another NFC North rival, the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are 8-2 on the season, yet are only around a field goal favorite. I still do not trust Sam Donald to win consistently over the course of a 17 game regular season. Minnesota is not as good as their 8-2 record would indicate and playing outdoors in Chicago on Sunday will cause issues for them on both sides of the ball. Chicago has been hit or miss this season, but they will be up to play another divisional rival and we expect them to take this down to the wire as well. Do not miss out on Doc’s Sports Weekend Card featuring top plays in college and NFL football. Read More Read Less

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