Out of sync

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 20, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:30 a.m.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In a perfect world, the New Orleans Saints would have beaten the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, then climbed aboard a chartered aircraft for a long overnight flight to London.

That’s how they would have wanted to leave for a weeklong stay in preparation for Sunday’s game with the San Diego Chargers.

But the world, and certainly the Saints, were anything but perfect in a 30-7 shelling at the hands of the Panthers in Bank of America Stadium.

The Panthers clamped down on the NFL’s most productive passing offense through six games, limiting the Saints to just 228 yards through the air. That helped hold the Saints to seven points — the lowest in coach Sean Payton’s 41-game tenure after scoring 10 points on three previous occasions.

But that wasn’t the only bad news for the Saints (3-4) as they blew an opportunity to pull even with the Panthers (5-2) in the NFC South race.

Running back Reggie Bush tore the meniscus in his left knee while returning a punt on the last play of the first half and center Jonathan Goodwin injured his left knee in the second quarter.

Payton said the plan is to have Bush undergo arthroscopic surgery by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., which will sideline Bush for Sunday’s game. The severity of Goodwin’s injury won’t be known until today.

Their injuries added to a terrible day for the Saints. In addition to not getting the passing game going, they had two turnovers that the Panthers turned into touchdowns and their defense gave up some big plays as well.

“There was not a lot of good today,” Payton said after the game. “I thought we got beat in every area. Give credit to Carolina because they did a good job. But we turned the ball over and allowed big plays, all the things that keep you from winning games.

“It’s a tough one to have to jump on a long flight after because we didn’t play real well,” he said. “We didn’t play well in the kicking game, we didn’t play well offensively or defensively. We’re disappointed.”

Things started out well enough. After the Panthers got a 39-yard field goal from John Kasay on their opening drive, the Saints scored what would be their only touchdown on a 1-yard run by fullback Mike Karney on the opening play of the second quarter.

It went downhill from there, however, as Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers stripped Jeremy Shockey on a tight end screen on the Saints’ next possession, which led to an 18-yard scoring run by Jonathan Stewart. A 48-yard field goal by Kasay gave them a 13-7 halftime advantage.

“At halftime, I felt like we were right there,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. “(The deficit) is just one touchdown, and we take the lead. We started off (the second half) with the ball. So at that point, I felt very good.”