The Saints got a 16-15 win over the Titans to kick off the regular season, but continuing to get wins will likely take better performances from left tackle Trevor Penning.
The 2022 first-round pick missed most of his rookie season, so Sunday’s game was only the second start of his NFL career. Penning had a hard time handling Titans edge rusher Arden Key, who posted 1.5 sacks of Derek Carr and had another near-sack and forced fumble ruled to be an incomplete pass in the first half of the game.
Second half adjustments provided more help for Penning, but that’s not an ideal way to run the offense and the outing led to a question for head coach Dennis Allen about his concern level for Penning.
“No, I am not concerned,” Allen said, via a transcript from the team. “This guy’s going to be a good player. You have a young guy that’s playing against an extremely good front. Does he have to get better? Absolutely. Am I concerned? No. I think we just keep our heads down, keep going to work. We will keep getting better. We will make our evaluations when we get to the end of the season and see where we are at. I think this kid’s going to be just fine.”
The Panthers are up next for the Saints and Penning will likely will have to do a better job against Brian Burns in order for the team to remain unconcerned about his fitness for the job.