Saints running back Mark Ingram likely out for season with MCL injury

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The hits keep coming for the New Orleans Saints.

Adding to a lengthy and talented injury report, running back Mark Ingram is likely to miss the rest of the season with an MCL injury, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Ingram, a fan favorite who joined the team during the offseason to support starting running back Alvin Kamara, suffered a slight tear of his MCL in their 17-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

With the Saints leading by 13, Ingram fell one yard short of a first down on a second-and-eight with about six minutes left in the game. Quarterback Andy Dalton threw an incomplete pass for Marquez Callaway on third-and-one at the Bucs’ 44-yard line, and Tom Brady took care of the rest.

More: Saints blow 13-point fourth-quarter lead, fall to Brady’s Bucs, 17-16

Saints head coach Dennis Allen said after the game that Ingram injured his knee on the play, but for Ingram, that was no excuse.

“I’m sick about this one,” he wrote in a tweet Tuesday.

The injury will likely keep him on the sideline for 4-6 weeks, Rapoport says.

With only five more weeks left in the regular season and the Saints’ playoffs hopes all but dashed, “Ingram is almost certainly done.”

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At 4-9 with four games remaining, the last-place Saints are assured of their first losing season since they went 7-9 in 2016.

Ingram is set to become a free agent in the offseason, leaving the Saints with Kamara and Dwayne Washington on the active roster. David Johnson and Derrick Gore are on the practice squad as the other options readily available for the offense. Placing Ingram on injured reserve would make sense to make room for Johnson.

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