What can we learn from this?

1. The sharp money got this number as far as “10”.

That all happened fairly quickly. We were seeing 10 by Tuesday and there was some 10.5 by Wednesday as proactive shops tried to front-run a possible move clean through the number.

2. The public is pushing this line further.

Whether it’s the Saints’ generally prolific offense, the undefeated record, or the stunning comeback in Miami, the public is absolutely getting religion when it comes to these Saints. It takes a ton of money to move a Monday night game. This game continues to inch higher.

3. If and when the sharps come back for the Falcons, it’ll be chaos.

If the sharp money is content to lay 9, 9.5, 10 and sit on the tickets, well, the books are on their own and we’ll see what happens. If there’s serious dog betting at 12 or 13, the market will fracture. Bookies trying to balance the action will be sitting a half point below the buyback number. Books with opinions will either take as much buyback as they can get, OR drop the number by a point and ask the public to unload.

4. The books aren’t in serious trouble. (They never are.)

The lazier books are going to feel some pain if this game lands 10 or 11. But the number we crossed was “10”, not “3”, so it’s not likely that the pain is coming. This game will generate juice no matter what. Similarly, mathematically, the teaser action isn’t scary. The teasers might cover, sure, but teasing off 10.5 or 11 with a total of 55 is action the books want to write.

5. Long term, the sharp money needs the Saints to win by 30.

Few things are as valuable to professional bettors as a public team to pick your spots against. A blowout win here will make the Saints the biggest public team since the 16-0 Patriots.