Bush status uncertain for game at Kansas City

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 13, 2008 - UPDATED: 6:33 a.m.

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METAIRIE — New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush worked on a limited basis Wednesday for the first time since having arthroscopic surgery for a torn meniscus in his left knee on Oct. 20, but his status for Sunday’s game with the Kansas City Chiefs remains uncertain.

Bush, who has missed the last two games, wore a bulky brace on his left knee during the part of practice open to the media and said later he would likely wear a protective sleeve instead of the brace if he plays Sunday.

“I hope to be back this week. I’m always optimistic,” said Bush, who just started running again last Wednesday. “It’s going to be day-to-day, so we’ll see how it goes. It’s not 100 percent yet, but we just want to get my feet back on the ground and get back into the swing of things.”

Saints coach Sean Payton, when asked if Bush would be full-go this week, said it’ll be wait and see.

“I thought he handled the snaps he had today pretty well,” Payton said. “It’s really a work in progress to see how his knee responds after today’s work and how it goes (Thursday). But he got a fair amount of reps. He wore a brace today, and we’ll see how it responds (today).”

Payton was asked Wednesday if he did anything differently in practice to try and get his team turned around after Sunday’s 34-20 loss to the Falcons — a loss that left his team three games out of first place in the NFC South.

“There are a few things we’ll play around with, just in the order of what we’re trying to accomplish and that’s not uncommon,” he said. “Certainly, in this week’s game, one of the key points of emphasis is that when you look at Kansas City, they’re second in the league in turnover ratio — which is somewhat surprising when you consider their record (1-8).

“They have done a great job of taking the ball away defensively,” he added. “They’re right at the top of the league in takeaways, and that has to be a big focus when we prepare to play this game.”

The Chiefs defense has 20 takeaways and just 11 giveaways on offense for a plus-9 turnover margin. The Saints, who had three giveaways last week, have 16 giveaways in nine games.

The Saints signed former Northwestern State All-American cornerback David Pittman to the active roster after a tryout on Tuesday and waived reserve defensive tackle Remi Ayodele.

Pittman, a Gramercy native and Lutcher High School graduate, was a third-round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens in 2006.