Nick Sirianni

Q. What do you expect the atmosphere to be like, and how have you prepared your team for the noise that you’re likely to encounter at Arrowhead? (Rob Kuestner)

NICK SIRIANNI: It will be rowdy. It will be really rowdy. We know that. We understand that. Every time you go there, you have to prepare for the noise.

That’s just our weekly process throughout the week. When we’re here, our defense practices with noise because we know it’s going to be rowdy here. When we’re away, the offense practices for noise, and so that’s just our standard operating procedure.

So, it was like that this week. We had it up loud, the music during practice, and we’ll be ready to go with our snap counts and with our communication.

Q. Kind of along a similar theme, there’s rain in the forecast for Monday. How does that factor into your conversations and the way you coach throughout the week? (Olivia Reiner)

NICK SIRIANNI: Obviously there are things that you do when it rains as an offense, as a defense, as special teams, and every rain is a little different. If it’s a downpour, you know, what’s the field condition? And then you do the same thing with wind.

There are obviously things that, just like anything we talk about, hey, coming off a bye week, whether it’s a Monday night game, Sunday night game, whether it’s a first game of the year, it’s the same thing with rain games. You have a process that you follow.

So, there are things you do in-game and prep for to be ready with all those different things, and then there are things you prepare for in practice. Whether that’s the catching of the wet ball during drills, a couple periods devoted towards the wet ball during practice. You prepare for those things like you prepare for a defense or an offense or anything like that. You’re just trying to put your guys in positions to help them prepare for what the game will be like.

So, with the weather and the predictions of weather, that’s a little different. It might happen, might not happen, so you don’t want to devote every period that you do towards it.

But we have prepped for it like we do before any rain game. You all saw how [Wide Receivers Coach] Aaron Moorehead was spraying the bottle up in the air. That’s more to simulate the rain coming down and to hit the ball. The ball was already wet when we put it in the thing.

So, it’s just different creative things we’ve tried to do throughout the years, and you continue to try to perfect your process to do so you’re ready for all conditions in the game.

Q. It’s your first time back in KC as a head coach. You started your career there; met your wife there. Super Bowl stuff aside, is there significance for you going back there? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: No. Again, obviously it’s where I started my NFL career and there is always — every place you go, whether I go to Buffalo, whether I go to Kansas City, Indianapolis, all the places, San Diego, I guess I don’t go there anymore — no matter where you go, you’ll have some memories you really enjoyed there.

You can’t let yourself get wrapped up into that. I’ve got a job to do. Will I have Jack Stack’s when I get there, which is a good barbecue place? Yeah. I’ve got good memories going there. And so, I’ll have that.

And I’ll see my mother- and father-in-law at the game because they’re close by. Besides that, business as usual.

Q. Was that last year your toughest year in coaching? Kind of a rough year. (Bob Brookover)

NICK SIRIANNI: In Kansas City? Yeah, that was rough. Yeah, thanks for bringing it up. [Laughter]

There were a lot of things obviously that went on there. I think we were 2-14. Tough to be a part of any season like that.

Through good, through bad, you learn, and you grow when you have a growth mindset.

And so, bad season, but got to be around good people during that bad season. [Quarterbacks Coach] Alex Tanney was one of those people that now works for us that was a rookie quarterback on that football team.

[Colts Offensive Coordinator] Jim Bob Cooter and I worked together during that time, who obviously came to be a part of this staff and now is with [former Eagles Offensive Coordinator] Shane [Steichen] in Indianapolis. So, always try to find the positive times through that.

Yeah, that was a rough year.

Q. We heard a couple players this week say, ‘you can’t win a ring on Monday night.’ Sounds like it’s being echoed. Did that come from you? And, if so, what’s the significance? (Tim McManus)

NICK SIRIANNI: We just talk in here and everything like that. I mean, the sentiment of they’re not giving us their ring back if we beat them this week. That’s more of like– we’re not going up there to win the Super Bowl. We’re going to play a good football team in a hostile environment and looking to get better this week to put ourselves in position to go 1-0 this week.

Again, the message, I wouldn’t say that’s been the message. We’ve all talked about that, you know, this game is a regular season game, but every regular season game we play means a lot to us. We got to go up there with our best foot forward to play against a really good team.

Yeah, again, it’s just that whole mentality of like make sure you’re getting yourself up for every game and doing the right things every single game because they’re all important.

And this one is the most important because it’s the next one.

Q. I know you’re not one to give injury timetables, but the fact that TE Dallas Goedert is not on IR, does that suggest you expect him back? (Zach Berman)

NICK SIRIANNI: We have high hopes that Dallas is going to be back. Again, I don’t know when. I think that’s unfair to Dallas. Yeah, there is a reason he’s not an IR yet.