The sting never goes away
By: will-vandervort January 25, 2016

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Unfortunately for Levon Kirkland, he has been a part of this scene too many times in his professional football career.

As a player his Pittsburgh Steelers reached the AFC Championship Game three times (1994, ’95 and ’97) and twice they fell short of reaching the biggest sporting event in the free world – the Super Bowl. Sunday night at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, he felt the pain of his Arizona players following the Cardinals loss to Carolina in the NFC Championship Game.

“I have been here too many times,” said Kirkland, who is an assistant linebackers coach for Arizona these days. “It is different as a coach because you don’t have any control. Between those lines, you can’t really do anything. You can only advise, you can only help … You can only be like a corner man. That’s different because as a player you have some control of what happens on the field.

“It is difficult to watch, especially with what happened tonight.”

What happened was a 49-15 beatdown by the Panthers, who will now play Denver in Super Bowl 50 in two weeks. Cam Newton and the Panthers offense racked up 476 total yards against the Cardinals’ defense. Newton accounted for 335 passing yards and two touchdowns, while running for 47 more and two more scores.

It was a bitter bill for Kirkland, and fellow Clemson Tiger now assistant coach for Arizona, Brentson Buckner, to accept.

“You just have to learn from it,” Kirkland said. “It is a different feeling as a coach but it is a young man’s game and I can’t play it anymore. This is the closest thing I can get so I’m real happy I have the opportunity to coach.”

Unlike their Cardinals’ players, Kirkland and Buckner know what it feels like to at least play in the Super Bowl. Twenty years ago, they both played for the Steelers’ in Super Bowl XXX. Buckner made it back to the Super Bowl eight years later in Super Bowl XXXVIII as a defensive tackle for Carolina.

But in each of those games, they both fell short of winning the big game. The Steelers lost a heartbreaker to Dallas in Super Bowl XXX, while the Panthers witnessed Tom Brady’s magic in Super Bowl XXXVIII against the New England Patriots.

“It hurts. It always hurts. But we are a young group and we will learn from this,” Kirkland said. “This is going to sting for a while, but you grow from it and you just get better. That’s all you can do.”