Tre Boston - , panthers Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-16 | Full transcript (primary source).
On September 16, 2026, Tre Boston addressed the media in a press conference following the Carolina Panthers' home opener. The discussion focused on the team's performance and expectations after their first game of the season.
Transcript
Boston: Look, let him celebrate with his team, whatever they do, I don't know, fight, hook hims, whatever it is. You know what they did, they just said fight together! Yeah! Welcome to the avenue. It's your boy, Trey Boston, and my fellow thief, Kirk Colvin in the building. Hey, brother. Thank you for having me. What's up, my guy? Hey, wonderful week. Wonderful week. Wonderful week. Wonderful week.
Coleman: All right, well listen, let's get into it. Let's talk about it. Home opener. We're gonna talk about the score. But what are your reactions? How you feeling coming off of this weekend?
Boston: I'm not gonna jump to conclusions. I wanna talk about three main points. Number one, hey. Are you jumping into thieves' takes already? Let me know. I wanna talk about, no, not quick reactions. Okay. Not my thieves' take. Okay, okay. Number one thing is, Panthers game one, hey, we don't know what to expect, it's okay. Flush that thing out. Okay. Flush it. Flush, hey, twice, probably. Didn't happen. Twice. Courtesy flush. Yes, yes, yes, yes, courtesy flush, well, yeah, yeah. Keep going, courtesy. But look, hey, to be honest with you, look, this team has all the right tools, the talent's there, look, we can overreact all we want. Look, the fans got what they look for. It was an exciting game, explosive. Look, Caleb Williams is the real deal. Team looks good, but guess what? The Panthers are just as good. We just gotta continue to execute. But I do wanna get into my text, but I'm gonna let you serve that up.
Coleman: Yeah, yeah, I, watching this game, I thought Caleb Williams was pretty decent. Like, he's pretty nice, bro. He's a little faster than I thought he was. Thought we gotta do a better job of containing. Like he said, this isn't to overreact. You know, of course we wanted to have a better outing on defense. But I thought offense looked great. We wanted to see what Bryce looked like. Bryce came out, played very well. You called it, I'll let you talk about it, too. But Bryce came out, played very well. Jalen Coker, my God, came out, was a guy. Holy cross. I wanna see how can we find a way to get other guys involved in the game plan. There's a few guys who we need to step their game up. It's just week one, so that's my reaction. Offense looked good, defense, gotta find a way to stop the run, pick their game up. But that leads us to these takes. Let's go, give me your takes. What are your three takes on the game, Kurt?
Coleman: First take is this. Offense is moving in a positive direction. What I love is this, two main things, 37 points. You can win almost every game in the NFL with 37 points. And guess what, to compliment that, 478 yards. If you're doing those two things, you are driving down the field and you are scoring touchdowns, not field goals, touchdowns. I'll take that any week of the season. Take two, here we go, defensive line. I know I'm calling you out and it's gonna be all across the board because this is the front seven. You can't give up 200 yards plus of rushing and to be specific, 291 yards of rushing. And they had two different runners. Not one, but two different runners. Get it, can't do that. Take three, here we go. The defense allowed way too many explosive plays. This is something that when you look at the stat sheets, explosive plays, 10 yards or more rushing, 15 yards or more passing, we saw it on both ends. And to end the half with Kayla Williams rushing for a touchdown, you can't end games and you can't have explosive plays if you wanna win. Those are my three takes.
Boston: Listen, I have to go to the stats because they rushed for 291. Yeah, yeah, that's a lot, it's a lot. All right, I won't talk about that one. I'm gonna steal one of your takes. What I'm gonna steal is explosive plays. On the avenue, they know that I talked about last season, explosive plays, we have to limit the explosive plays. 11. 11 explosive plays this past week, that's very tough. The max you wanna have is around four to six. Actually, six to eight is usually winning. So for me as a defense, we gotta find a way to limit those. Like I said, we gotta be more stout on the defensive line. 291, yeah. You can have either explosive plays and don't give up as many rush yards or if you're gonna give up the rush yards, you can't have explosive plays. They have their way. They did have their way, they did have their way. But we can look for our defense to go back to the drawing board, go into the coaches' staff and figure out, hey, how do we wanna get this going? For me, I think we gotta land. So hey, this week I think again, man, the coaches are gonna go into this week understanding what they gotta get done and I think they're gonna get it done. So for me, they got to limit those explosive plays. We gotta be more stout up front, defensive line, we gotta figure out ways how to win the line of scrimmage. When you win the line of scrimmage, you can find yourself winning ball games.
Coleman: But going back to offense, man, I really like what y'all did. Back in our days, we said, anytime our offense scored, do you remember? 17. 17! 17, look. 17! If our offense scores 17 points, we know our defense wins the game. Can you imagine, for us as a defense, and I know you felt this, when we stepped on there, it was like, if you gave up more than 17, we didn't know if we would win. We had a great offense in 15. But it was, historically, our defense was the team. We rode and we commanded the huddle, we commanded the field, 17 points or less. And that was, man. 17 points. So we know, we understand these battles, that's all we say. Anytime you're scoring over 17 points and you're a defensive team, you take pride in what you're doing, that's a W. So for me, that right there, those are the thieves' takes, man. And I hope y'all feel the same about these.
Boston: Now, on to reaction. We heard that there was a little bit of commotion, a ping pong tournament happening, while our boy, Coker, was having an interview. Let's roll the tape. Does this feel like more precautionary than anything, or is it too early to tell?
Coleman: Yeah, I think more precautionary, for sure, yeah. Remember, you can get the precautionary to miss any snaps late in the game.
Boston: All right, now listen, we understand the fans. I heard it was a big topic. They ain't liking the ping pong tables. What'd you get there?
Coleman: Look, here's the number one thing is, that was an intense battle. Did you hear that rally set? I'm talking, the rally was going back and forth. Big tournament time. Spin English on the ball. I heard it. Here's the number one thing, guys. What people need to realize is, the locker room, it's your home away from home. You have gaming systems, you have modalities. I've seen people have a shiatsu foot massage going on at times. I'm not gonna call anyone out. I think you know who I'm talking about.
Boston: I know exactly who you're talking about. But at the end of the day, that's our home. And so, you gotta be able to exercise the demons, exercise on whatever it is. If you need a ping pong game, I think the timing of it could've been a little different. Could've been a little, what I'm saying. But it was a good game. I don't know what, I just wanna know who won.
Coleman: Listen, one thing we know as the fans, like, I get it, you know? Your boys, hey, I'm with y'all. Y'all know your boy Trey gonna keep it real. We ain't trying to hear none of that. We don't wanna even see you smile in the locker room when you're a fan. When you're coming off an L like that, we're like, we wanna see you serious as Jaylen's face right there. Jaylen was locked in.
Boston: You know what I heard, though? Talk to me. People were saying, they're okay if it was offensive players playing, but they're not okay if it's defensive players playing. How do you feel about that?
Coleman: I mean, can the offense go celibate? Which offensive players? Hey, which offensive players? Do some of them need to be steady in the field? Which one? So, but I wanna say, and piggyback off of what Kurt said, like, as players, man, we want to just be able to relax. That's our place where, you know, on one hand, it is serious for us, but you wanna make sure that you're not uptight, man. It's week one. You wanna still be loose. You wanna have fun. Yes, we know it's serious once we get into meetings, but when you're in that locker room, it's time to have that chemistry. Have fun with your boys and really build off of that. Could it be better timing? Yes, but same time, it's the locker room, man. It's the locker room. It's your space. So, as fans, we understand. We want the serious intense-ness to show that, hey, we're ready for this week, but two, we need the guys to be themselves, and that's a better version of themselves as well, but to have fun.
Coleman: So, let's go to two, man. Let's transition over to those football headlines. Let's do this. All right? We got the Saints. Now, listen, I don't like to talk about the Aints, you know what I mean? I don't like to side with them, but the NFL likes to make up rules, and here goes one of them, I believe.
Boston: That's a Buckeye. That's a Buckeye? That was a Buckeye. Don't worry about the Aints, that's a Buckeye. That's a sack, Forrest Fumble, that should be returned for a touchdown. What do you mean, sure, that was a sack, Forrest Fumble returned for a touchdown. But they called it a pass, right? See, this is where, I'm trying to figure out, what do they want to rule? Because if it's a pass, let's call it a pass. But no, is that what they called? They called it a pass.
Coleman: They called it a pass. They called it a pass. They called it a pass. An incomplete pass. Exactly. But if it's a pass, what way did the pass go? The pass would've went backwards.
Boston: Backwards, so that's a fumble by definition. It's a lateral pass. And if it's not, that's, look, to me, I gotta go back to what my eyes tell me. Yes. That is a great pass rush. Open hand's not going forward. This is our drill in practice. Yes. This is exactly, you strip, you come back and you strip. Yes, run, run, reach! I don't understand how, and I get the intent or the letter of the law or the letter of whatever. This is, by definition, and by everything that I've grown up playing, that is a sack fumble, return for a touchdown, game of 7-7, and do they even go to overtime if that's the case? I don't know.
Coleman: No, but hey, listen, one thing we all wanna do, NFL, we wanna appreciate you guys because us and all of our brothers are 0 and 1, and we know how you like the NFC South. You like to keep us close. Keep us close. So, it's much appreciated. It's much better when we're tight. It's much appreciated.
Boston: My fault, throw Butterworth's, Butterworth, throw Butterworth's instant replay, VP of instant replay. Hey, Kurt, use that Ohio State education, man. What's that say?
Coleman: The determining factor, does the passer begin his throwing motion prior to the contact from the defender? The throwing motion starts as he begins to bring the ball up, part of his windup, and then the defender's contact made the pass go backwards. So, it goes back to what you're saying. If it's still a pass, and it goes backwards, that is a?
Boston: It's a pass. It's a fumble. It's a fumble. So, again, NFL, we wanna appreciate you guys, man. I need a clarifying to clarify the rule. Don't even clarify. 0 and 1 across the board, and we like it. I'm good with them losing, but can we just, this is why people say, are the stories written, you got people coming out with all these propaganda stories. They've been rigged since 2015. Oh, that was written. That was true. I'm dying on him. That was true. Hey, he died on the air. I'm dying on the air.
Coleman: Bronco, that was? All right, let's chill. Let's chill. We have Texas head coach, Steve Sarkeesian. Is Sarkeesian? It's Sarkeesian. We got him, what we say, blowing off ESPN's interview. I wouldn't say blowing off. I would say, hey, being adamant, you know? Being adamant about a victory. Play the clip.
Boston: Yeah, now he, I mean, we're hearing that people are upset that he didn't give a full interview. What is a full interview? Kirk, how do you feel? How do you feel about that, Kirk?
Coleman: It was, it was, it was actually. Hook him horns! It was, it was a, he entered, he answered the question. He gave the interview. He just didn't give everything or answer all of her questions. He did the interview. And what I think people forget too is, the halftime interview was ESPN's fault. And he stood around and he said, look, I gotta go talk to my team. We gotta make adjustments. They made adjustments. They did make adjustments. And it was on my team. So I gotta take that L. Yep, you do. We're gonna learn and grow from this. You're gonna learn and grow. And hopefully ESPN learns and grows. And don't, hey, you're in the motion. They just came back from a huge victory against a great team. I think the best team in the nation. And they won at home. So a lot to be excited about. I think he did exactly what he was supposed to do. Answer the question. What'd he say? What'd he say? He said fight Texas, fight! Those are the horns!
Boston: He walked from the man. The man just came back 20 points fourth quarter. In the fourth. Against a good Ohio State team. Great, great. I wouldn't say great. Great, it's great. If they were great, they would have finished off that fourth quarter. But a good Ohio State team, you know, I have no bias, no dog in the fight. Would you say one of the best in the nation though? It was good. They were playing like one of the best in the nation. Thank you. But fourth quarter, they gotta finish. We've all been there. They went away from four. I don't know why you go away from four. I'm just saying. But, Sarkeesian, I think you did your thing, man. You owe them right there, man. You're excited for the boys. You're ready to go celebrate. Unbelievable win at home in Austin. I can only imagine what that night looked like in Austin, Texas. I can bet things got weird.
Coleman: Can I say one thing? Talk to me. I would love, again, for the media outlets just to appreciate the moment. And I think sometimes we get so caught up and you have to be this politically correct person in front of the camera. That was an emotional comeback. That was an emotional wing. And if you think about for Sarke in his coaching career, this was something for him to, that is a huge win in his coaching column.
Boston: Look, let him celebrate with his team. Whatever they do, I don't know, fight hookums, whatever it is. You know what they did? They said fight, Texas, fight! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Coleman: All right. Talking about celebrations, we have Stefan Diggs in this division game. Gets a touchdown. Celebrates with the goalposts. How do you feel about this? Costing his team. 15 yards. They missed the extra points. I think the celebration is hilarious. I love the celebration. Here's the thing that I, again, we are so hypocritical in all these celebrations. I've seen teams literally have choreographed moves and they've done stuff from the musical, Disney, dance, or musical, whatever. There's so many things that is allowed now. How is this not allowed? You can dunk on a goalpost?
Boston: Yeah, but you can't. No, you cannot dunk on a goalpost either anymore. No, you cannot. You cannot use a prop. Even if I don't touch it. If I, you can't use a prop. You can't use a prop. What did I use? I'm just jumping. Can't use a prop. So you're technically a prop if I bow and I knock you over. No, I am not the prop. You can't use stadium props. So goalpost, goalpylon, a camera, or.
Coleman: So you don't like celebrating. Oh, you know. So the guy that I thought doesn't like rules is really conforming to the rules of no props? One thing you know is I'm not a fan of NFL rules. We just got done talking about that on the first one. Not a fan of these NFL rules, but that's the rule. As a celebrator, I know what I can and can't do. You can't use a prop. So as a veteran, Savon Diggs has to find a way to be smart about that celebration. But are you okay with the celebration if it's not in the fourth quarter and they don't need to go for two? Are you okay with the celebration? If we're up, if we're winning, if we're winning, like just don't cost my team a 15 because nowadays kickers, they're just as big as point shavers as everybody else. I'm just saying like.
Boston: I feel like that was another shot at back of my team. I'm just, y'all had a chance. I'm just saying. I'm just saying kickers were point shaved too. You know, to take them back 15, next thing you know, they just got done kicking a 50 yarder. Laces out, that's all I'm saying.
Coleman: All right, so what I'm gonna say is the Fond Diggs, man. I don't mind the celebration if we don't put our team in harm. Again, if we're up, we're winning the game. We're winning by two wins or two scores. Hey, I'm all for it. But that one right there, I don't think we needed it.
Boston: All right, now we transitioned into the social spotlight. We go on social media and we go take out the biggest clips of the week. Right here we got Tyler Owens, unstoppable. Oh my God. Oh my God. No, I'm gonna get out of his way. Oh my God. Hey, play the club again. Oh my God, just tossing grown men. What'd you know about tossing grown men? Oh my God.
Coleman: Non-dominant left then to the right. Hey, listen. Oh my. Hey, listen. Is Tyler Owens a receiver? No way like this. Oh no, I'm here in safety. I'm here in safety. I knew it. I knew it. Tyler Owens, dog. Tyler Owens. Dog, it was moving too efficient. That's play of the week. I don't care what catch. I don't care what play. That is play of the week. Listen, I love to see it. I knew he wasn't a wide receiver. He was moving too physical, I'm just being honest. As a safety, I'm talking tossing guys to the side, hand in the throat. You know, I'd be like, that's stuff that you're taught. You're taught, hey, how do I get a guy off balance running backwards? It's hand up here in the chest. You're just tossing one man, tossing another, getting off the other. Trey, how hard, Seattle. You know, I'm splitting double teams. You know, I used to be a gunner. That's, you used to be a gunner. I was the PP, you a gunner. How hard is it just to even get down the field when you're double team like that?
Boston: No, it's tough. The vice is, the vice is probably the hardest thing to do. And he did it with ease. No, he did it with ease. That was Derek Henry times two, actually times two. Because again, he split the vice at first. That's a win. Which is like unbelievable. When you split the vice off a straight muscle, then you pin the first one. The second we come back, you pin him. And then to finish off that, oh my God, little split the vice. That is, that's unbelievable. You choke the first one, choke the second one. Then you end with a, how do you get this time? WWE. On top of this boy. Tyler Owens, man.
Coleman: Now what happened was, oh my God. Yeah, that's a good play right there. So I want to let y'all know. If you got a special teams player of the week in the NFC, I am, I'm calling at the NFL. You got to respect it. You got to be NFC defense. Got to respect it. Listen, I can, I can roll that clip about a thousand times, man. I'd love to see it.
Boston: All right. We got the funniest guy in the NFL. Jamis Winston in the back. How much cologne is too much cologne? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Hey, it's nine too much. 10. What about 10? 11. Is it 12? 13, 14, 15, 16. It's 16 sprays too much. Trey, I know he's your boy.
Coleman: That's my dog, man. That's my dog. And I love Jamis and all that he, that he's done. Do you think he's taking a shower pill? No. Do you think he skipped the shower because he need to get somewhere. Look, Cam is just, he's still in his shoulder pads. You know, that turnaround's quick. I'm an investigator. Things aren't timing up. You do make sense. Cause you know, he probably, he prayed after, I know he prayed after the game. You're right. The time to get into the locker room. Can't see. Cause then, cause then you gotta have a team huddle. Yeah, right, we do. And I'm sure there was a game ball given out because the Giants won. Harbaugh probably got another game ball cause the owner said, you know, you get one. He's already dressed. You're right. Did he shower? He's smelling good. And probably he's covering up some other funk that's going on. I'm just putting pieces together. I'm thinking like Cam Scottable, like I'm thinking he was one to like reminisce in his past. Like first game back, you know, it was a big moment for Cam. But he didn't have to do post game interviews. That would have been Jackson Darr and all that. He would have started running back, started running back, back off injury, New York, New York, big media, big media. So Jamis, can we get a, I want to follow up. Did Cam Scottable get on the podium? Cause if he didn't, I'm really, I'm questioning the timeline. I'm going to go with Jamis. Cause you get 10 minutes. It's 10 minutes once the team enters the locker room. Yeah, yeah, yeah. New York though. You know what I'm saying? They might give them 15. You know what I'm saying? Just, it's a lot going on there. I can appreciate it. Jamis, I'm sure you smelled good leaving, but did you, did you get clean? I think I know my dog. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt until I figure out timelines.
Boston: Baptized in that water. All right. Listen, next we got the emails. Hey guys, make sure y'all are emailing us at the avenue at panthers.nfl.com. You hear that? The avenue at panthers.nfl.com. To give us y'all's questions. I want to hear from you. First question. What do we got here? We got Hunter from Lake Worth, Florida. Anytime you're from Florida, that is. Crip. Do NFL players really care where they get drafted? Like, if it's a bad team, you want to leave that one off, bro?
Coleman: Yeah, I would like to. I would like to take this one. Do we really care if we get drafted to a bad team? You got drafted, dog. You, that is a highlight. That is real. That is, you know, for me, I'm going to speak about personal experience. I was a seventh round draft pick. And you're waiting for that phone call. I was getting phone calls from teams asking me to be a preferred free agent. I said, why are you calling my line right now? I don't want to hear from you. To me, if you get drafted, that is something that very little people can say that they've done. With that being said, with that being said, placement is everything. Placement is everything. It's like baseball. It's like real estate. Location, location, location. You do want to get drafted, but you want to get drafted to the right organization.
Boston: Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. One, I would say fourth round of here, you know, it's a privilege to be drafted, you know, for me, knowing that I was coming to Carolina from Carolina Tar Heels, man, that was a blessing. I knew I'd be able to keep all my fan base. So how many of us that have grown together? For me, it was a great destination, great coaching, great players, great veterans. But I can only imagine if you end up with a team like, you know, we won't throw any teams out there. You know, I'm just saying, but we know the bad historical teams as of lately. It's tough on you. Anywhere you go that you are losing, football cannot be fun. I've had those days as well, where football has not been as fun, where it becomes politics, where it becomes a true business, where you don't like coming to work as much as back in our days when we loved coming to work. It was hard for the wives to even get us back home because we love what we were doing. We love to be around the guys. So, I think, yeah, oh.
Coleman: Little pink ball. Little pink, trash ball. Trash ball. You know what I'm saying? You just took me back. You just took me back. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna be out here hooping. Yeah. So, for us, I think we do care, but the biggest thing of it all is getting drafted. You get that call, it's amazing. You have an honor of saying you go.
