The Avenue with Tre Boston | Week 14 | Carolina Panthers

Welcome to the Avenue. Christristen Baloni with Panthers legend Trey Boston. Let me tell you what, Trey, the Panthers beat the hottest team in the NFL at Bank of America Stadium. Trey, I have been waiting all week to hear what you have to say about this victory over the Rams. So, take the floor. Listen, y’all have been waiting. How do I feel? I feel like All right, listen. Everybody coming into this game was like, “Oh, the Rams. The Rams. They’re the best team in the NFC. The Rams. The Rams. Oh, the Panthers have no chance.” And some of us actually believe the naysayers. But who didn’t believe it? The guys inside that locker room didn’t believe it. Man, they came out a wellfought win, man. I’m talking coming out, listen, score for score, then you end up going into a battle all day long. Coming out with a gritty win. I tell y’all all year long that this team found theirelves. I love hearing how this team believes. This team truly knows who they are. Their identity is found and their identity is the underdog. Their identity is playing teams and making them feel them for four quarters. So, my reaction to this win, man, I love it. I love that we are coming back off of losses with big-time wins, learning our lesson from those and moving on. And I look for us to consistently do this. But, man, I feel amazing with us getting this win because it sends us on the trajectory of the playoffs. It does, Trey. And not just the fact that they won, but it was how they won. So, let’s start with the offense first. Talk about those fourth downs. Two big touchdowns on fourth downs from Bryce Young. And I mean, come on. Like like the guts to have those play calls from Dave Canales, the execution from the offense. Trey, what did you see in those clutch moments? Yeah, I mean, what did you see? You saw guys stepping up and making big time plays. If I told you on fourth down that we would be a team that’s going to go for fourth and four right here and we’re going to put the ball in the air. Oh my gosh. Clutchness is what I see. a dime by Bryce Young. You got Jaylen Coker who we said weeks ago once he got healthy that he would be a problem for defenses and he’s showing exactly that that he has been a nightmare for defenses trying to follow up. But then I say whoa whoa we got another for you deep in the game when we need it clutchness. Bryce Young to T-Mac man I know these guys felt electric man. Look at these guys celebrating right now. What I love to see is teammates celebrating, smiles on those boys faces. These guys love what they’re doing, having fun with what they’re doing, and they’re truly building on a foundation that shows it. Look right here. Look at these fourth down rankings conversions tied for first. I mean, they’re going for it. Look at the pass yards on fourth down attempts. First, rush yards on fourth down attempts fifth. Boy, you love to see it. They’re not scared. They’re not scared. And again, that, you know, last game might have helped that passing yards attempt a little bit, but Dave Canales is showing his team that I believe in you guys. Hey, fourth down is our down. We’re first in the league, and this isn’t something that we’re just new at. Hey, we’re just uh No, we do this. This is who we are. So, man, I love to see this team winning in this fashion and finding themselves week after week. This is only year two into it, guys. We’re seven and six. Oh my god. I can’t believe it. But you can though. I You know, I can I can. But if I told y’all this at the beginning of the year, man, listen. A lot of people felt like, man, could we I’m telling y’all, this is the foundation of who we are, man. This is the Carolina Panthers football, winning grimy games, getting teams uncomfortable. Woo! I’m I’m lit. I know you are. I know you are. And with good reason. All right, Trey, you might have a little bit of deja vu because last week we saw three interceptions by this Panthers defense. This week in the bank, three takeaways. Thievery is alive and well. Yes, thievery is alive, man. And listen, I want to let you know as thieves were nice. Hey, we came out. I talked to you guys about the script of being 15 plays. Well, the Rams come out, they drive down in six plays, started on short yardage with the kickoff, and they go down and score. But what do we do on the next drive? We get a pick in the red zone demeaning a team. DB right here. Hey, already leads the league with seven PBUs. Instead of using his hands, my boy use his head, man. Get your head in the game. Tips and overthrows. Got to get those. Got to get those. KB. That girl. No ball. Listen, you got to come down with them. Nick Scott coming out with that one. And then the very next drive, what do we do? Mike Jack. Mike Jack taking it back for a touchdown. I love to see him playing ball like this. And you know want to know what I love when he celebrated. He said eightball. What you think about that? Yeah. He’s talking to JC Horn letting him know, hey my boy, you might be taking this off. We getting you rested up, but I got you. I’mma handle this for us. And that’s exactly what you see right there. And then in the crunch time when we need it again. Who makes the play for us? Derek Brown. the best DT in the game. Oh my god, if he’s not your allpro, if he’s not your Pro Bowl selection, you guys are whing. Hey, defensive player of the year needs to be on the lookout because this guy has made plays for us each and every game. Ask our guy Baldi. There’s a highlight about him every game manning up, man. DB man. Hey, thievery isn’t only just for the DBs. Hey, I know Derek Brown is DB, too. You know what I’m saying? All of us. It’s a team. This defense played together. I love to see it. I’m excited to see us in a fashion like this because when we have t turnovers and we take care of the ball on the other side, I told y’all, man, this team, [Laughter] Trey, something else that we have got to talk about. If you were there at Bank of America Stadium, you heard it. You felt it. If you were watching on TV or listening on the radio, you heard it, you felt it. Let’s take a listen in on these keep pounding chants from the fans in this game. [Applause] I have goosebumps, man. That makes two of us. That is uh that’s beautiful to hear because here at the Carolina Panthers uh we we tell people and we let them know that this is two states, South Carolina, North Carolina. Man, a fan base that truly feels like they are with us. Um Keep Pounding isn’t just for the players, but man, we taking it on as a as a total, as a team, and um that includes the fans. And when they’re rocking out like that, man, that is unbelievable. It it reminds me of 2013 versus Saints raining, but the fans are still out there pumping up the boys. Luke Keegley 24 tackles, one INT. Then it reminds me of 2015. We got the Colts. I think it’s Monday Night Football raining. The fans keep pounding. And then we got the Rams. This the beautiful LA team. good weather coming in to Carolina thinking that they’re going to get that and we get a gloomy day, a Carolina day, a muggy day, and we just keep pounding on them while they’re looking for comfort. We’re looking to get them into the deep end of the water. And I love it because our fans are a part of that. To see them cranked up like that, man, that hey, that’s not just one play, man. We’re showing you plays back to back to back that our fans are in it when we need them. Man, shout out to our fan base because when we need you, you guys always show up. You already know. I know that. But hey, it takes a team and y’all are a part of it. Trey, it wasn’t just a gloomy day. It was downright gross out there. It was cold. It rained the entire time. And those fans were right out there with us. So loud. We heard them. Of course, you know, you love this on third and fourth downs when that when that Rams offense was on the field right before that big DB play um where DJ Wam recovered. There was a delay of game that backed the Rams up. It was so loud in there. And you know, as a defender just how important that is, not just that we hear it, but that it can affect the game. Yeah. No, it does affect the game big time. I mean, again, not only motivationally, but when you have your fans a part of the game, not only does it get the guys going, but it can affect the game. false starts makes it harder on the offense. Again, this is an offense who’s already in a shotgun. You need a lot of vocal signals when you’re talking with each other. Then we get them into a space where, hey, you can’t do that here. Hey, and it’s a bad day and it’s raining and your knee might hurt cuz it’s a little cloudy out. Yeah, that’s what Carolina football is about. Taking teams to the deep end, four quarters with a fan base who’s going to hound you and know that it’s going to be a long 60 minutes here. It sure was. I want to ask you about a guy. So, we saw rookies step up all season long. We saw some guys step up in this game, but I want to ask you about Lean Ransom in his first career start. Trey, what did you see from the young guy? What did I see from the young boo man? Hey, listen. I’ve told y’all I like Laam Ransom, man. When he got drafted here, young, physical, smart guy. I talked to my guys at Ohio State. Say one of the smartest guys they’ve seen, man. Look at him flying around making plays. Sack on Matthew Stafford. Man, I’m so excited to see the trajectory of this young man. I talked to him a few weeks previous letting him know that, hey, your role inside this defense is coming. It reminds me a lot of myself when, hey, I had to take the back end for a few years, but at the same time, I was getting a lot of playing time. Next thing you know, you get your opportunity, be ready for it. He was ready for it. So ready that, hey, I didn’t know we were talking about him today. I text him after the game letting him know, man, that was a great game, great start on what we talked about. I love to see him play like this. But his physicality, look at this one. Give me kiss. I love to see a young bull who can fly around, make big time hits, and with a swaggy celebration. Phone a little was ready. He was ready for the moment, and I’m so happy, man. Hats off, man. My hat goes off. not only to him but Dan Morgan because a lot of these rookies have been putting in meaningful time playing great ball and that’s hats off to him and upstairs getting the job done picking the right guys who they know can be trustworthy but be pillars that we can stand on years later and Laam’s going to be one of them. All right, hats off to Dan Morgan and that front office as you said. Now it’s time oh one more thing vote for my boy rookie of the week Ransom rookie of the week. Y’all better get to voting right now. Yeah, I’m just saying. And go vote Pro Bowl while you’re at it, too. Plenty of guys. Plenty of guys that deserve that. So, go do that. All right, Trey. For the seventh time this season, I need to know who you’re giving your chain to this week. Well, for the chain gang this week, I think it goes to somebody who last week we questioned. We wondered how they would come out this week. And not only did they come out balling, but they were clutched like no other has been before. Bryce Young, come on. BY9 gets the chain. You see the stats at the bottom. 70 a 75% pass completion, 206 yards passing, three touchdowns. Two of those being on fourth down. How clutch can you be, my boy? Yeah. And the other one being on third down, too. So, it goes to Bryce, man. Hats off to him for continuing to push this team and do well when he’s called upon. Man, I got Bryce Young with the chain. And what if I told you guys fourth quarter, one last drive that I would pick Bryce Young over Josh Allen and Pton Manning. I’m just saying. Youngest player in NFL history with 11 gamewinning drives. Man, my boy is getting it done. And some people might say, “Oh, Trey, but last minute drive.” Yeah. I want to let you know how many games are dictated between seven or less points. Three or less points in the NFL. I’m letting you know Bryce Young is a guy who we can count on to be clutch and clutch moments, especially when we need it done. Carolina football is one in the fourth quarter. And Bryce is the one who’ll do it. Hey, Chang, baby. The certainty that this team has in him when the ball is in his hands, when it matters, is I mean, it’s just so impressive what he’s done. You’re so right. Well deserving of that chain. And now, Trey, the Panthers head into a byee, going on a high note. It is finally time for that buy. But we know and they know that it is time to turn the page. So, turn the page for us. Okay, turning the page. This week, we got a by week. So, how do we take advantage of that this week? I think you come in early. You get a few meetings in, get guys moving around. We all know that physically we have to get what when it comes to recovery. We got to get better. We got to find guys to get back on the field in a couple weeks. And that’s what it takes this whole week. You take off next week. You still have some game planning. Get it going. But I love how we keep guys around the building. Right now, our guys are locked in. They see the finish line ahead and they know what’s ahead. and they know how they have to attack it. So for me, mentally, our guys have to decompress, but understand, hey, we are locked in and focused. And our coaches this week, I think they have to do a great job of decompressing, but understanding, hey, we got to dial it up. We have a Saints team. We have Bucks twice. We have Seahawks. We have teams who we can beat. And we have the playoffs at stake. We’re this close. I can smell the playoffs. These boys, too. Hey, with this week, take advantage of the bye-week. We love having a byee. Listen, sometimes when it’s this late in the season, some guys are like, but seven and six well needed by week when we’re about to hit this stretch right here. That’s so important. I’m so happy. Take advantage of the men. That’s how we turn the page. Trey, I got to imagine that, you know, you get your schedule right when it comes out at the beginning of the season. You’re looking, like you said, you go, “Oh my gosh, we don’t have a by-week until we play 13 games.” But right now, right now in the present moment, you’re going, “Oh my gosh, we have a by-week. We’re fresh. We are on a hot streak. Let’s go.” That like that’s that’s exactly what you’re thinking. You’re going when you check the schedule, there’s two things you’re checking for ASAP. What is the coldest game of the year? When do we play in Green Bay? All right. All right. We got Green Bay in Octo. That’s not bad. All right. And then you go to Bowwig. Oh, wo 13. All right. It’s going to be a hike, but it’s a journey. You have to enjoy your journey to the destination. So, now we’re in a by-week. Again, when every team is beat up, they have no week solved. They got to keep going. We get guys the ability to rest and come back energized again knowing that we have four games that we can really get the job done with. Man, I’m so excited with this bye-week because again right now, hey, we’re happy with it. The timing ended up being perfect. Who could have guessed? All right, we got Ricky Pearl coming up in just a minute. But first, I want to let y’all know about a special offer when it comes to the gear that you see Trey and I rocking. the gear that you see online. All right. Now, we know that Black Friday and Cyber Monday might be over, but Fanatics is still offering some great sales before the holidays, including Trey. 30% off sitewide at shop.panthers.com. And guys, I want to tell you something. If you are still wondering what to get for the woman in your life, maybe you’re taking some time getting those presents ready, check out all the newest Panther Style from Lululemon and Girl Tribe Co. I can tell you from from what I have gotten, it is great. Great quality and again 30% off sitewide at shop.panthers.com. Ricky, it is great as always to see you. See you out on the golf course. You see the man? And I know it’s by week for all of us, but my man’s already on the course, man. Coach, what course you on right now? I’m in Bull’s Bay, which is in Awenda, South Carolina. Just about an hour, I don’t know, two two two hours south of Charlotte. Hey, can’t hide it. No. And look, we appreciate you joining us because we’d love to have you on after a big game like this. So, thank you for coming to us while you’re right in the middle of your game. I want to ask you first about Jaylen Coker. We saw Bryce Young be so uh clutch on third and fourth down. And a big reason for that was Jaylen Coker. What’ you see out of the young man in this one? Love it. Like you said, no one loves clutch more than me. Um so I love watching uh players come through. Um I mean on fourth down huge play obviously um clutch reception to convert for first down to put the game um to bed. Uh just you know for for Bryce just happy for him because that that’s what you need guys to make plays and uh you know T-Mac obviously a big play too and and Coker just coming through and and you need a plethora of guys making plays and and that’s that’s what’s nice. T-Mac’s been the guy all year and now Coker’s started to step up and play more consistent and uh that’s huge for for the offense. Now coach, you know, looking at this game, what was the change that you saw between the game plan on the offense week 12 to week 13 coming out like they did? Well, I will say this. I mean, you don’t want to make a living on going on fourth downs. I mean, um that’s not a recipe for success. But um but for them to make those plays, I just think you know we’ve had such a good run game um you know all year and and to to now convert in the passing game and make big plays under clutch situations. I think that just that breeds confidence and and um and I think that’s what the offense just played with confidence and and that’s what it takes to beat teams like the Rams who put up a lot of points. Ricky, time and time again, we see this team rebound from, you know, tough loss like it was to the 49ers. We see them have a huge game against the Rams, but this team has got to have consistency down the stretch if they want to make the playoffs if they want to win the division, which they are in prime position to do. So, how can they find that consistency down this important stretch by winning games like they did last week? And I think, you know, you can’t, you know, they had some laps, they’ve won some big games and then they’ve had a lapse and a let down and but I think it’s when you win games like this and you’re starting to see the trend of them just believing in themselves and believing that they can play with anybody and that’s huge. That’s such a confidence builder for a football team as a whole, you know, and uh we talked about a couple weeks ago about the offense not coming through and putting so much pressure on a defense. when an offense comes through with big plays like they did on Sunday, Trey, you know, I mean, that just that uplifts the whole team. I mean, that just that brings everybody together on on all three phases of the game. And it’s just it’s exciting to see. It’s exciting to see what this group of guys are doing and how they’re starting to play together and they’re getting better every week and and um it’s exciting for the fans. It’s exciting for everybody and and they feed off that energy and that that’s that’s what’s exciting to see as a fan. Now, coach, hey, I want to let you get back on the course, but before I let you go by weeks. Hey, how is it best that coaches utilize the by-week when it comes to preparing for this stretch that we got to have? Well, I think they still got to work hard. You got to put a couple good days in um this week. uh you know, let guys know that yeah, we got a by-week, but you know, we got to this next couple weeks are crucial for us to make this playoff run and we got to be at our best and we can’t have a let down. So, they got to put in two good days and then give the guys rest. Um and then maybe have something, you know, maybe a Monday practice to where, you know, you get all that stuff out where wherever they go if they’re going home or if they’ve been, uh, you know, enjoying themselves somewhere, they got to get back to the grind and get back to work. And I think that’s that’s that happy medium of give him rest, but also realize that hey, we got to it’s it’s now it’s time to make that run. Ricky, real quick, how you playing today? Awful. Hey, it’s cold out there, coach. I see it. I see it. We’re going to let you get back to it. I just know you’re going to finish strong. Thank you so much as always for the time. Thank you guys. Go Panthers. Let’s go. Okay, Trey. It is one of our favorite times of the week. We get to answer the fan questions. Remember that you can tweet or X or whatever you want to call it, Trey, your questions and we will answer them on this show. So, make sure to go right here and ask those questions, y’all. All right, the first one from CODELA Allen. Okay, it wants to know, “Reflecting on your time in the NFL? Is a late or early buy better? And how important was that week off in such a physically demanding league?” So, Trey, we talked about this a little bit earlier, but I love asking about it from your experience. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’mma let you know the earliest by-week I had one year was like week four or five. Disgusting, nasty work by the NFL because you don’t need it. You’re not banged up enough to say, “I need a week off.” And then you’re also at the time of the early in the season where you’re trying to find a flow, but then you have where you kind of want it in the middle, but like I said earlier, having it this week 13 when we need it. You talk about demanding on physicality. Like, man, these guys right now need a week off. There’s teams around the league who can use just one week off. This by-week is great. When it’s a late by-eek and you’re at where you’re at, as this Carolina Panthers team is, it’s amazing for them. Especially when we’re in the trajectory that we’re at, man. These guys already believe. They’re able to get their bodies right, their minds right, and they only have four games after the buy. Instead of feeling like after my buy I got a hike of 12 games, I got a hike of eight more games. I just got a half time whether it was eight eightweek by week. No, these guys have a month of football left and they can get the job done. So, I would rather take later than early. And also, we got to just like the way that this team has played, the way that guys have come in and played, the way that they’ve been able to keep their bodies healthy without having a buy so far has been really admirable. All right, next question from Katie Riel. We just had our biggest win in years and now we have our buy, which means there’s an extra week for players to read the newspaper clippings and listen to all the national media praise. Should we be worried about a young team still learning how to win handling this type of situation? Great question. That is a great question. I think this team has already gone through the ups and downs of how we want media to treat us. I think we’re ready just to say, “Hey, we are who we are. We’re going to go into these games being underdogs. We’re going to go into the game with the identity of, hey, y’all talk good about us when we play good. You talk bad about us when we play bad. We can care less what the outsiders say. Inside that locker room is the only thing that matters. And I think they take that on this week. The the media is going to talk well about us. But we don’t hear that. You just continue to see the progression of game by game, week by week. 1 and 0. That’s it. And we will win this bye-week. I guarantee it. Making sure that we get guys back. We prepare mentally, but I think you got to get the job done just like that. Next tweet from Atlanta Risen part two. Do you believe Carolina has found their identity and is sticking to it? Yes. Yes. Yes. We’re back to Carolina Panther football. Real gritty. Yeah. We’re going to come into games. We’re going to force you to turn the ball over. We’re gonna play smart with the ball. We’re gonna take care of the line of scrimmage. We’re gonna stop the run. We’re gonna run the ball. We’re gonna be clutch when we need to be clutch. We’re gonna get you into the fourth quarter. We’re going to put you in a dark room. You don’t like dark rooms, do you? Yeah. You were scared of the dark. Yeah. You scared of what’s in there? Yeah, it’s the boogeyman. Yeah, it’s a slim reaper. Yeah, it’s Bryce Young. Yeah, that’s where we’re at with it. So, I think this team knows exactly who they are. They like going into these games. I think we have six or seven wins as the underdogs. We’re going to continue that. We’re going to continue taking on that role and understanding who we are. We’re the Carolina Panthers and we know exactly who we are. All right. Last tweet is a two-parter and they’re both great questions. So, I’m just start with the first one right now. All right. Do you think this will finally be the start of coach letting Bryce play a little more free? Oh, what I will say is I believe coach is going to find ways to dial up his plays for his playmakers according to each and every game. So, it’s about schemes. Um, I think Bryce has the ability to let it rip a little bit more. U, but if we’re running the ball well, there might not be needs for that. So, I like for coach to find a rhythm of how he gets Bryce involved in the game when it comes to getting the ball uh thrown a little bit more. So, I think it will build a little bit more trust. Uh I think it builds trust with that O line, too, knowing that, hey, if we give Bryce time, he will get the job done for us as well. So, it takes a team. I think the trust will build and I look forward to seeing how coach utilizes that relationship going forward knowing that he’s starting to get his pieces of the puzzles working together. Whether it’s the run game, T-Mac, Coker, we’re getting guys going. We want to continue that. All right, second part of the question. And lastly, how far do y’all think Oh, y’all I get to answer this one, too. How far do y’all think we can go, especially with this late buy? Trey, I’m gonna say it. I think they can win the division. Yeah. Easy. Yeah. Now, easy is the key word right there. Easy because it is within their grasp. It will not be easy, but you’ve got a game against the Saints. You’ve got two games against the Bucks. And look at that win over the Packers. Look at that win over the Rams. They are capable of doing it. Absolutely. I think we absolutely are. I think we can win this division. You can say, “Hey, go out of here and win three of those games being division.” Saints, you already know we owe them payback. The Bucks, you know that it’s going to be a grimy game again. Two of them. I mean, you got to go out there knowing what type of games those are going to be. But hey, our destination is right there. Hey, our journey is right here. I mean, we got to just go out there and capture it. Hey, our future’s in our hands. And I like what we see. We can go to the playoffs. And hey, once we get into the playoffs, do y’all remember 03? Do y’all remember 15? Y’all remember how uh JLo got divorced in those years? Do you remember how Ohio State won the national championship the year before? I mean, you remember how we started off with the Jags both those years? I’m just saying. You get us into the playoffs, baby. Destiny is destiny. You can’t run from it. We might be in the Super Bowl, baby. I love it. I had not heard the JLo part. I had heard the sports stats. I did my digging. I did my digging. I had to make sure the statistics were right. Y’all do some more digging. I’m just letting y’all know Carolina Panthers are this close to having a date with Destiny. I love it. All right, Trey, thank you as always. Oh my goodness, this was a great show. Thank you to the fans for watching. Thanks for tweeting in your questions. We appreciate it. We will see you Oh, yeah. next Wednesday. Come on. On the Avenue. Let’s go. [Music]

Kristen Balboni is joined by panthers legend Tre Boston to recap the Carolina Panthers big win over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 13. He highlights rookie Lathan Ransom and gets fired up by fans chanting Keep Pounding over the TV Broadcast. Also he talks through the improved relationship between Dave Canales and Bryce Young. Later they are joined by Panthers legend Ricky Proehl and answer some of your fan questions.

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