SmashMouth

New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram had a strong sense of deja vu following the second game of the season.

Ingram took his glove off in the locker room following the Saints 26-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sept 14. He stared at his swollen thumb.

The thumb had hurt throughout the game after he landed on it after a run, but not to the extent that he couldn't play through it.

But he knew it wasn't good looking at it in the moments following the loss. That meant X-rays, which led to a prognosis of a fractured thumb and surgery.

"They sent me to get an X-ray and that's when we figured out it was broken," he said.

So for the second time in a year, Ingram was glumly facing the prospect of sitting out Week 3.

"Week 2 got me two years in a row!" he said. "I just want to get through Week 2 healthy next year."

Last season, Ingram emerged from the Saints 16-14 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a toe injury. He wasn't able to return for almost two months, missing five games in the process.

The difference this time around was that Ingram seemed to be moving forward instead of backward. Ingram was the subject of much criticism following his eight-carry, 20-yard game against the Buccaneers last year.

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