A lot of things went right on Friday night at the Caesars Superdome, but unfortunately one big thing did not: Trevor Penning was carted off with an injury to his left foot.
Head coach Dennis Allen indicated after the game it was a toe injury and it would get further evaluation. That was confirmed Saturday morning by Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, who classified the injury as a "bad case of turf toe," a much more significant injury than the name suggests.
An MRI showed that the injury included a torn ligament and will require surgery, Rapoport reported later in the day.
The injury came late on the Saints' opening touchdown drive, and appeared to have occurred as Penning was blocking on a Mark Ingram run and he got stepped on by guard Andrus Peat as TE Juwan Johnson collided with him as he went for a block.
Penning went into the injury tent and emerged with his shoe off before taking the cart back to the locker room.
While the name turf toe doesn't sound incredibly significant, it has been known to keep players sidelined for extended periods. Also called a "metatarsophalangeal joint sprain," the injury occurs when the ligament under the big toe hyperextends and sprains the main joint of that toe, according to UPMC Sports Medicine.
The bigger question was the severity. Grade 1 sprains can be healed within a week, Grade 2 sprains might take a few weeks to resolve. But a Grade 3 sprain or ligament tear can keep a player sidelines for as long as several months before the injury is fully resolved, according to Healthline.com.
The rookie's injury isn't the end of the world for the Saints' first-team offense, but it does put a damper on what had been an impressive preseason performance for the big bully out of Northern Iowa. And for a player who has to anchor on that foot and toe with significant pressure, it's not difficult to see why it could be a difficult recovery.
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The good news is that after the game Dennis Allen gave a positive outlook for veteran James Hurst, who is dealing with a foot injury of his own and hasn't participated in a practice since the second joint session with the Green Bay Packers. Allen said Hurst should return "sooner rather than later," and he was the presumptive starter at left tackle even with the rookie's progress.
The team has two weeks before it has to take the field again on Sept. 11 in Atlanta, and the biggest question might be who the backup left tackle would be if Penning couldn't go. Names like Derrick Kelly and Lewis Kidd could be viable options, but might require an extra linemen to be carried on the roster. If that's the case, it could make some of the final roster spots all the more competitive when the team cuts down to 53 by 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
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