Trevor Penning, New Orleans Saints O-Line Show Much-Needed Improvement Vs. 49ers

Intro New Orleans Saints offensive lineman Trevor Penning shows important Improvement against the San Francisco 49ers we got all that and a little bit of lanap for you on today's episode of lock on Saints you are locked on Saints your daily New Orleans Saints podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what is good HUD nation and H family I am your host your friend Ross Jackson New Orleans native your New Orleans Saints expert and credential member of the media covering those New Orleans Saints as the Saints beat writer over at louisian sports.net which is now live make sure to go and check it out and of course as the Saints analyst over at WWL TV on today's episode of Locked on Saints we're going to be taking a look at why I still need to see more from this New Orleans Saints offense before I'm fully bought in on its Effectiveness I'll tell you why we're going to dive into taste some Hill being an important factor and finally being treated like it but we're going to lead everything off today with our kickoff which is going to be Trevor Penning who showed some important improvements against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday we got all that coming up for you on today's episode we appreciate you very much for making us your first listen and for being every day or here on the show which is a proud part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day and is brought to you by your friends over at FanDuel fanduel's got something really exciting right now right now through September 22nd all customers any customer can put $5 down and get a 3-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube or YouTube TV just head over to fanduel.com lockon to get started after rewatching the game a couple of times and going through the tape and the film we'll have a film study for the Insiders here later on today I thought that Trevor Penning showed vast Improvement or at least intelligible Improvement let me say it that way intelligible Improvement uh going up against the San Francisco 49ers when I say intelligible Improvement I just mean Improvement that you can see that you can mark that you can understand right not intelligible about him more so for me right it was intelligible for me to see that there was some improvement so what I did was that I went through all 33 of his snaps and for the show here I marked down which were wins which were losses and which were stalemates now I want to be clear I tried to be very hard on my grading with this if Trevor Penning got walked back at any point and didn't find a way to rebound it was a loss if he got help from somebody else it was a stalemate unless he finished that play by putting the defensive player on the ground that I would always consider a win anytime you get a defensive player on the ground it's a win I looked at running plays and passing plays alt together because it all tells the same story and I looked at the plays regardless of who was lined up next to Trevor Penning right so I tried to be pretty tough on this here's what I walked away with on his 33 snaps one was a penalty not on him no penalties in this game one was a QB Neil So I removed those so out of the 31 snaps I got 12 wins five losses 14 stalemates not bad and a lot of people would consider stalemates for an offensive lineman a win by the way because in some cases a stalemate is literally that the offensive lineman and the defensive lineman lock horns and no one moves nobody drives nobody pushes no one gets walked back nobody goes back on their heels no one loses leverage both of them just do their technique to the fullest and stay right there and just fight and fight and fight and fight until the play is over a lot of people would consider that a win for an offensive line but again I wanted to be a little bit tougher on this so I split out wins in stalemates otherwise we would be talking about very lopsided numbers here that no one would you know that not even I would believe I would have to go back and rewatch the tape for a 17th time and the numbers in terms of the raw numbers beyond my opinion of those snaps in terms of eye test do back this up by the way according to Pro Football Focus only one pressure Allowed by Trevor Trevor Penning's Improvements pinning in this game one hurry that is coming off of a game where he allowed two hits and a p committed a penalty in fewer snaps by the way 33 snaps in this game 25 up against the Arizona Cardinals here's where I thought he impressed now let's get to the nitty-gritty I loved his recovery in this game there were a couple of times where he started off a rep with a loss but then kept fighting and kept fighting and kept fighting and actually turned it into either a Salem or a win I always get very impressed with that if you see that two or three times in a first half you know in a half of a game so you know five or six times throughout a game or let's say four to six times throughout a game that's really good right you think about like the equivalent to a cornerback think about Rico Payton actually against San Francisco there was one play to where down the left sideline he ends up getting beat because the wide receiver has two or three steps on him but he doesn't panic right he utilizes closing speed closes the Gap and then makes a play on the football Trevor Penning doing his version of that at one point an off a defensive lineman ended up getting in getting towards the inside and getting some pressure there but instead of him flipping over his outside shoulder and then kind of going into nowhere No Man's Land he turned his body with the defender got back underneath that Defender and then was able to win The Leverage battle by getting underneath the defender really really good stuff so I think that that was a good example of a place where he won now there were a couple times where he was still beat on the inside we'll get what what he struggled with here in a moment another thing that impressed me was his balance I didn't really see him on the ground very much that's good that's a good sign it's a good time one of the things that everybody always talks about with Trevor pitting is how much he sometimes ends up on the ground were there times where he ended up on the ground absolutely but a lot of them from what I can recall were all run plays where he was jumbled in the middle of just a pile of football guys you know what I mean and so you're going to fall over in those situations that's okay I thought his his Pad level was much better in this this game not a lot of examples of him there were a lot of examples of him in the first game against the Arizona Cardinal sinking his hips getting his butt back but then the moment that he ended up engaging with the defensive lineman he would stand straight up stand straight up and then that's what ended up getting him toppled over at one point by a guy that was 6'3 253 pounds versus his 6'5 6'7 325 pound frame you can't have that and I did not see that in this game and I thought his level of aggression was much better too to where anytime that he was engaging with an off defensive lineman instead of him straightening up or pulling back he he lunged forward he ended up being the aggressor on a lot of his reps where he was actually making first Contact he read the momentum and The Leverage of the defender and then attacked and when he did that I thought that he came away with some really really good stuff all right now let's look at where he struggled because it's not all Roses and Rainbows right we did have some losses in this game uh I thought that the inside shoulder was still a spot where he struggles quite a bit getting that wide base and pulling all the way back on the outside of his pass blocking reps sometimes he ends up losing on that on that inside shoulder Saints started to kind of help him a little bit over on that part um and I think that that ended up going a long way for him once he started to get that help especially Kyle hgle who I'll get to here in a moment the undrafted free agent out of offensive lineman out of Minnesota um and I thought there were the times and I kind of jumped the gun here but there were also times where he needed some help got some help from tight ends got some help from the uh inside uh interior offensive line and all that kind of stuff but that's fine that's fine you're going to do that in games no matter what and everything like that but what I didn't see what I didn't see was the equivalent of last year to where giving Trevor Penning help or giving the offensive line help last year remember they were dealing with injuries everything else that was going on um and they were just not playing well especially early on in the season when they were giving the offensive line help from the tight ends it was taking the tight ends and the running backs out of the plays entirely that is not the case in Clint kubak system that's something I've seen that was very promising out of this game I think the Run game is still very much his comfort his comfort is very clear there so when you start winning in the Run game early like the Saints did it only builds the confidence that translates over to the pass blocking game and I thought that his pass blocking as a whole looked much better against San Francisco than it looked against Arizona now he's going to be put to the test this weekend um I thought that or or you know we saw him struggle against guys like Arden key and Harold Landry against the Tennessee Titans to open the season week one last year I don't know if those guys are going to play I know that Ardon Key's six-game suspension just got reversed great for him uh but uh well great for him in terms of he gets the play I don't know the details of the suspension don't come at me for that uh but Ard key got his suspension revers and so with that being the case he's expected to be able to actually start week one so does that mean that he gets opportunities here having not played in the preseason yet will he be in the game uh game three against the New Orleans Saints this weekend I think there's value in that because then you'd be able to get a onetoone comparison did you improve against a guy that you struggled against last year uh some of the snaps that were deeper into the game were with Kyle herle next to him I thought Kyle herle by the way really impressive in this game and really has been impressive the last two games he is a guy for sure over the course of the preseason thus far that has made a little bit of noise in terms of putting himself on the map and maybe just maybe being able to steal a roster spot on that offensive line which needs quality depth so all in all I thought very very good stuff from Trevor pinning throughout this game uh insiders you'll get a film study from me later on today if you're interested in joining the program just text who at to 504 28574 73 or click the link in the description join sub text.com lockon Saints and we'll have much more for you over there uh as well all right coming up next I want to dive into Tamm Hills usage now because Tamm Hill was treated like an important factor which is exactly the way he deserves to be treated let's get to that as we continue on with today's episode of lockone saints part of lockone podcast Network your team every day today's episode of lockon STS brought to you by friends over at FanDuel America's number one sports book look I don't know if it's just because I'm in Louisiana but when I open up FanDuel right now I can go to the NFL section and when I go to the NFL section there's an entire section of saints odds like an entire tab of saints odds uh you could look at the week one odds which includes them being favored by four and a half points up against the Carolina Panthers Tyron Matthew will they record five or more interceptions in the season will the Saints make the playoffs over under win total of seven and a half uh you could also dive into uh passing touchdowns passing yards for Derek car rushing touchdowns rushing yards for Alvin CRA and much much more there's a ton of Saint stuff on here so make sure you come and check it out over at fanduel.com and right now is absolutely the time to do it because right now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a 3-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube or YouTube TV then with your YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game how cool is that all you need is a Google account and a current form of pay and you can cancel any time visit fanduel.com lockon to get started and download America's number one sports book all right family tesm Hill is an important factor in this New Orleans Saints offense and was finally treated that way by offensive coordinator Clint kubak in this preseason game I absolutely love it we appreciate you very much as always make a lock on Saint your first listen of the day everyday free second list don't forget to go and check out Michelle and Vinnie over at locked on fantasy football every single Monday through Friday giving you everything that you need to be the smartest fantasy football player in your league go and check him out today at lockon Fantasy Football on your favorite podcast app or wherever you get your podcast uh and on YouTube as well um look when I say that he was finally treated like the important factor that he is by Clint kubak I don't mean that Clint kubak hasn't treated him that way before I just mean it's refreshing to see an offensive coordinator treat Tamm Hill like the important factor and in in the important role that he deserves to be treated in it it's just great to see Tamm Hill was utilized all over the field up against the San Francisco 49ers and had such a consistent presence against the San Francisco 49ers that I think that it gives you a clear indication that he is going to have a major and important role with many many many snaps to be had per game throughout the 2024 NFL season and if you're like me and you believe in Tamm Hill as a playmaker for your team the guy that literally leads the team in rushing and receiving touchdowns combined over the course of the last three seasons I'm not even including the passing touchdowns and things like that this guy needs to be on the field so many times last year you've heard me complain about it before so many times last year we heard well Taysom Hill's Role in the New Orleans Saints Offense the game situation didn't really dictate an opportunity to utilize tesm Hill every game situation is a tesm situation simple have them out on the field doesn't matter because you can use them at tight end you can use them at fullback you use them at running back you use them in slot you can use him at wide receiver and you can use him at quarterback what do you mean the game situation didn't make sense to utilize TM Hill because tesm Hill can be fit into any game situation and we started to see that here from Clint kubak who gave Tamm Hill 14 non-quarterback snaps never took a single snap at quarterback 14 non-quarterback snaps I want you to remember that number here's why because the average number over a 17 game period from last year that Tamm Hill was utilized in non-quarterback snaps now this varied from game to game this is an average but the average amount of non-quarterback snaps that Tamm Hill took in a game last year over the course of 17 games was 18 18 18 18 14 on Sunday in a preseason game where he played like a quarter you see what I'm getting at here Tamm Hill was utilized just four snaps Less in a single quarter of a pre-season game or H single quarter and some change of a preseason game then he was utilized in every regular season game on average over the course of a 17 game average last year Tamm Hill is finally going to be a real part of this New Orleans Saints offense and not just the gimmick and I think that might be one of the big things that you kind of picked up on when it came to tesm Hill kind of feeling a little bit maybe not so great about what his role has looked like over the course of the past couple years I'm sure you've heard some things like that I mean he even said out loud at one point during one of the training camps here recently when we were talking to him that he didn't didn't necessarily like the way that things were handled in terms of how he was told what his role was going to be with New Orleans but that didn't stop him from buying in and going out there and getting it done and stuff like that so there was always kind of a little bit of maybe concern about does Tas Mill actually like the role that he's in and I don't know that that had as much to do with the fact that he wasn't going to be able to play quarterback I'm sure that that had a lot to do with it in terms of him not being able to compete as a quarterback with this team and then also being committed to this team via a contract that then didn't allow him to go out and pursue quarterback opportunities elsewhere that part I understand they're being frustration with if that's the position that you want to be playing but look he gets to play a lot of quarterback here in New Orleans right and so for me the other thing that I thought maybe might be good for him in this offense is that he's treated like an important factor he's treated like somebody that can impact the game which he absolutely can again the teams rushing and receiving touchdowns leader over the course of the last three years yes ahead of Alvin C in that number so when he goes into a game against the San Francisco 49ers in the preseason playing a quarter in some change uh in playing fullback halfback tight end and in the slot not to mention his special teams roles and abilities and all those other things that's pretty promising pretty promising to see because again when you utilize TM in all these different places and you're not just fixated on using him only at quarterback or more present no more uh with a greater emphasis at quarterback and it doesn't matter what game situation you're in you don't have to be in third and one to put him under Center when you can be in third and five and have him in your backfield you don't have to be in the red zone to put him under Center or or in the shotgun more appropriately when you can be just outside the Red Zone and utilize them at tight end you you see what I'm getting at here the amount of things that Tamm Hill has been able to now do in this offense operating out of the back field at quarterback in line in the slot and out wide just maximizes your ability to be able to put him on the field whenever the heck you want to put him on the field and then Things become even more complicated for a defense that's going out there and trying to match Personnel because they see that seven is in the Huddle but where the heck is he lining up is he going to you you can kind of tell if he's going a quarterback or not but outside of that where is he lining up is he going to the tight end spot is going to the wide receiver spot is he sticking around in the back field is he going to start at one and motion to the other what does that do to a defense you feel me you see what I'm trying to say here it just opens up a whole lot and by the way um the Saints still in the pre in that preseason game despite using him on 14 snaps non-quarterback snaps using him in four different places on the offense leave alone special teams they would have still had wide receiver as an out wide and quarterback as options in terms of how to utilize them in this game and more like if we're being honest like there's other ways to utilize hey you can have a tight end that's not not necessarily in line but that's a little bit offset and all these other things like there's a lot of different ways to utilize a guy like Tamm Hill so I'm really looking forward to seeing how his role translates on a more full-time regular season basis because he deserves to be on the field just as much as anybody else in terms of being a dude that's able to go out there and put points on the board help you score and help your offense move and his ability to be able to move around also can help you counteract some issues when it comes to health injury and availability as well but if you're down a running back or two like the new Orland saints were in this preseason game you can turn to a combination of not just Jamal Williams but also Tamm Hill to help you out in the Run game when you have moved on from one fullback and you've only got one other one on your roster but you don't want to overwork your fullback you have Tamm Hill who can operate there when you're dealing with issues and injuries excuse me at tight end because Jaan Johnson's on the injury list trying to work his way back for the regular season and D Hulker has a pregame injury where he's spraying his ankle which is exactly what happened against the San Francisco 49ers and you're down to just three tight ends one of which just got back to the team that same week guess who can help you Tamm Hill Tamm Hill is an important factor of the offense and it's nice to see him finally treated that way coming up next I want to dive a little bit further into the offense New Orleans Saints offense put together a nice 16 play 95 5 yard touchdown Drive had a lot of great things to take away from it but I'm going to tell you why I still need to see more we got that coming up for you next as we continue on and wrap up today's episode of lockedown saints for a lockon podcast Network your team every Why the Saints still need to show more day let's get it HUD that Nation I'm going to tell you why I still need to see more before I'm ready to fully buy into to what this New Orleans Saints offense can be in 2024 we appreciate you very much as always for being here with us uh don't forget we'll be back with you later on today so the New Orleans Saints have a practice from 7 to 900 P p.m. central Time here in New Orleans they'll be Uptown I think I said in uptown in an earlier episode they'll be uptown at Yulan Stadium over in tane thank you for checking me on that um and so I'm going to try to go live from yulman Stadium if the internet's not working as well down on the field or something like that I'll just come home and then go live and then we'll still have a fresh episode for you Wednesday morning but it'll probably be recorded and published in the morning like I'm doing today uh so just a heads up about that but we are going to move right back to two a days because the Saints are back in practice all next week all these other things so the Saints are now officially back here in New Orleans lots of great stuff uh on the way here with them being back home ahead of their preseason game against the Tennessee Titans all right I want to tell you why I still want to see more why I'm not still why I'm not completely sold just yet on what the New Orleans offense can be in 2024 and listen I'm not trying to I'm not trying to be like unnecessarily negative or anything like that I I'm just I'm just taking a step back a little bit here I I I'm trying to view this through the lens that is not the same in which we looked at one drive against the Kansas City Chiefs last year and went oh they might actually they might actually have this right and so I I'm trying to remain kind of distant and distanced from the idea of hey that 16 play Drive proves everything because I don't think it does I think that the two drives before that are just as loud right like unable to get anything off the ground inaccurate throws not necessarily in time with receivers and things like that not operating on schedule both in terms of getting behind the sticks but also not operating on schedule in terms of delivery timing things like that right so like those things are still concerning they're still concerning and look you can go out there and you can start a game with two bad drives and you can have four really good drives after that and still win a football game that's how football works that's okay but I think the thing that we're looking at right now and that what we saw against the San Francisco 49ers was a little bit more of their system but it was still their vanilla system right and so I should explain this uh because Luke Braun and I talked about this over at Lacon NFL and I thought it was really valuable that when we talk about a team going out there during the preseason and running a vanilla off offense we don't mean just some random offense with play call sheets that you got out of a gumball machine and it's vanilla it's what everybody else around the league is doing you're running your vanilla office right you're running the the the concepts that are foundational to the bells the whistles the window dressing the eye candy all the other stuff that you add in compound upon once you get into the regular season but in the preseason you're still running your base concept and so seeing the Saints struggle with their base Concepts against second and third team offenses defenses that gives me pause and I don't think that one 16 play 95 yard drive as nice as it was you can check out yesterday's episode I raved all about all the good things that were in there I don't think that it's enough yet to say that's who the New Orleans Saints are I think it's going to take a little bit of time for them to be able to prove that now look I think that they're going to be aided by the fact they're going to have a stout and very effective defense again in 2024 one that might be better than the one in 2023 I'm not sure yet I think they'll be helped in that way I think that the system itself looks good based upon what we're seeing in training camp the issue with seeing a system in training camp is that it can look different it can look aesthetically pleasing but that doesn't mean that it's better in terms of EX ution doesn't mean that it's better in terms of the way it's being coached we don't know that until we see it on the field that's just the reality of where things are and the New Orleans Saints coaching staff has been upgraded in my opinion over on the offensive side uh I know people love to rag on Dennis Allen and all this other stuff but he doesn't have a lot to do with the offense being coached Clint kuak and the new and and and Andrew janoko and these other guys that the Saints added over on the offensive side that's the their job their job is to implement that Dennis Allen's job is to oversee all of it and make sure that things are happening and make sure that things are on track and all this other stuff and I'm sure he has his opinions and his thoughts in terms of what he can contribute there he's coached against this type of offense his entire career so I'm sure he has insights recommendations things like that in terms of how a defense is looking at what's being shown all this other stuff so there's valuable sharing of information there don't get me wrong but it's not like Dennis Allen's over there saying all right Derek here's how you run you know this wide Zone concept no no not at all and so I think that there's a lot of positive that should be here right coaching staff is upgraded um the system is good the system is aesthetically pleasing the system is refreshed and new and different in that there is motion there is play action there is the outside Zone run there is a certain utilization of Playmakers like we just broke down uh when it comes to a tesm hill there is a real commitment to establishing the Run game in order to open up the rest of the game without a a lack of acknowledgement that the passing game also impacts and can be positive for your run game it it's all there and again going all the way back to the first week of training camp they have rules over the offensive side that help them be able to dictate what it is that they do as a unit all 11 players with the same understanding based upon what they see a defense do in terms of last minute shifts adjustments changes that's all valuable but can they execute it and Beyond can they execute it my other biggest question around this team right now is can they stay healthy because I haven't seen much evidence of that so far throughout training camp um I think John Sigler over at saintswire did a whole running spreadsheet of injuries and I counted more than 30 players that at least missed a practice with injury throughout a few weeks of training camp and we saw a fresh new absence just about every single day of training camp out there on the west coast now the Saints might have just been playing it safe being precautious all this other stuff but when you're being precautious turns into players missing more than a week of training camp when they should be on the field executing and learning how to execute their new offense I'm going to have questions about how those players are able to execute the offense once once they get thrown into the fire in the regular season the Saints didn't finish installing their entire offense until just about the last practice before the Arizona Cardinals game a lot of Players missed a lot of practices during that time on that side of the football now a lot Miss on the defensive side of the football too I understand but that is at least something that maybe isn't necessarily a cause for concern but Peaks my interest a little bit right gets me asking the question gets me raising the old eye and going me what do we really know here so I I think that my questions around the New Orleans Saints and their offense will not be able to be answered during the preseason during training camp during practices it it's going to be answered during the regular season and what I've seen in practice so far is a good system but I've seen and had my concerns about their ability to execute it so let's see what happens once they get into the regular season and especially because they're going to get early tests against the Dallas Cowboys the Philadelphia Eagles yeah the Atlanta Falcons defense has has seen some upgrades so that will be a little bit of a challenge for them as well and then week five up against the Kansas City Chiefs if they can weather that storm of four games after the Carolina Panthers game which by the way they must win in order to set themselves up for that run of four tough games if they can weather that storm I think they're going to be just fine going through the regular season if they can't things get really dicey really quickly for a team that would then have a lot of pressure on it and a big need to turn things around quickly and that amount of pressure with a new offensive system might not mix very well that might be water and oil for this team so we'll see how things go I'm not saying that the sa are going to be bad I'm not trying to do anything like that that's not my that's not my thing my only thing is I'm still waiting for more information and then we'll get a real idea of what this team is going to look like but I just don't feel like the Saints even have the opportunity to provide that information until the season begins all right we'll be back with you later on today post practice New Orleans Saints at yman Stadium at tuland you know what I always say if you see me say hi if you're out there and of course we'll be back with you at that point and all throughout the week we appreciate you very much as always making us a part of your day part of your routine for saying yes to me on the show as always if you see me please say hi and if you need anything else around you or New Orleans Saints in between these episodes make sure you follow me on your favorite social media Ross Jackson n OA hit me up out of families doing them how you living let me know how you moming them and Trust you. Nation I'll holl at you [Music]