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Everything was going great for running back Jonathan Stewart in his playoff debut until it wasn’t.

As a rookie in 2008, Stewart took his first carry against the Cardinals nine yards for a touchdown on the Panthers’ opening drive of the Divisional Round. 57 minutes later, Carolina’s season was suddenly over.

While the Panthers get ready for this weekend’s Arizona rematch, some who were around for that 33-13 loss six years ago are having to relive bad memories.

“The playoffs are a whole other level. You’ve got to take your game up a whole other notch,” Stewart said Tuesday. “In the ’08 season, I don’t think we came to play with playoff intensity.”

There could be something to that, but intensity would have had to go a long way to make up for quarterback Jake Delhomme’s six turnovers. And it’s not like the defensive gameplan was the best that day, either.

After slipping into the playoffs at 9-7, the Cardinals came to Charlotte wounded after sneaking past the Falcons in the Wild Card Round. But head coach John Fox and defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac failed to take advantage, allowing receiver Larry Fitzgerald to roam single covered while he caught eight passes for 166 yards and a touchdown.

“It was tough to lose that game, especially to lose the game the way that we did,” linebacker Thomas Davis said. “They were a hurt team coming in. They didn’t have Anquan Boldin that game, so you would think that our game plan would reflect not having Anquan and double Larry Fitzgerald. That’s not something we did, and we paid for it. He made us pay for it.”

But now on Saturday, Davis, Stewart and the Panthers get a second shot at the Cardinals.

“At the end of the day, we have to do a better job overall executing. The coaches have to, the offense has to, the defense has to.”

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