INDIANAPOLIS — The hits started coming as soon as the regular season started.
Braden Smith injured his left thumb, the same thumb he had ripped open in a practice last season, and was forced to miss a game due to the stitchwork needed to repair the cut, on the first drive of the first quarter of the season opener against the Seahawks.
Then a foot that had given him minor trouble for a while suddenly gave way on the first drive of the third quarter. Smith played every snap against Seattle, but he clearly wasn’t himself; Seahawks defensive end Darrell Taylor bull-rushed Smith to the ground later in that quarter.