Heartache kicks in for Panthers, Kasay

HOUSTON -- Heartache was everywhere inside the Carolina Panthers' locker room last night after a classic showcase called Super Bowl XXXVIII. But nowhere was it heavier than at the first locker as you entered the doorway deep in the bowels of Reliant Stadium.

John Kasay stood solemnly, surrounded by reporters, but blanketed in dignity. Nobody was asking him about the 50-yard field goal that ended the first half. There was another kick to talk about, so he faced the music.

His dress shirt was black. Fittingly.

His eyes were red. Naturally.

He wasn't going to run, wasn't going to hide, wasn't going to dodge any of the questions. Most of all, he wasn't going to make any excuses.

"I got around on it, just a little bit," he said. "I hit it solid, but I got around on it. Trying to be just a little too quick."

Kasay has been a member of the Panthers since Day 1, the only player who has been here since this franchise was born in 1995. He nearly got cut in the preseason, but he kept the kicking duties and, oh, how he enjoyed this finest of seasons for the Panthers. Until last night, that is. Until the game clock showed 1:08, specifically.

That's when his kickoff went short and right and out of bounds and gave the Patriots the ball at their 40 and . . . well, no one was going to say it led to defeat, but the history books will show that it did. The Patriots used five plays to march 37 yards and set up Adam Vinatieri's field goal that produced a 32-29 Patriots' win.

The flip side is, it was a 32-29 Panthers' loss, too, but no one in the powder-blue-and-white uniforms was about to dwell on the kickoff. If they felt the kicker had let them down, they weren't saying.

"We should have stopped them," said middle linebacker Dan Morgan. "Just because they got the ball on the 40, we should have stopped them."

"We did some good things, but we were always behind," said defensive end Michael Rucker.

When Rucker was asked if fatigue had set in late in the game, hindering the Panthers' attempt to stop Tom Brady and the Patriots, he wiped sweat from his forehead and sighed. "Maybe. It's hard to tell if we were wearing down, but we just didn't get it done and it's very disappointing," he said.

On that point, everyone in the Carolina locker room could agree.

"There's just nothing to talk about," said Brentson Buckner, who for two weeks had embraced the chance to help build the hype with pregame media exposure. But now, with the sting of a crushing loss burning a hole in his competitive soul, Buckner just shook his head.

"To get here, to get that close and then lose . . . I almost wish we had never gotten here. To see them celebrating, to see their fans . . . " he said, his voice trailing off.

Other Panthers chose to dwell on the fact the team had been 1-15 just two seasons ago, that they had gone on the road to win two playoff games and make it to the Super Bowl in just the ninth year of the franchise.

"It is what it is," said defensive end Julius Peppers. "[Vinatieri] made it, game over. We'll come back next year and step it up a notch. Nobody here has to hang their head."

Not many of them were. Not Morgan, who said he would find time to savor the memory "because it was a fun game to play in," and certainly not Kasay. Reporter after reporter stopped by, notebooks out, tape recorders in his face, microphones picking up his every word.

They were spoken softly, but from the heart.

"It's not a perfect situation," he said. "Things happen. I wish it wouldn't have happened, but it did."