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?
NICK SIRIANNI: It will be rowdy. It will be really rowdy. We know that. We understand that. Every time you go there I 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 communication.
Q. Kind of along similar lines, rain in the forecast for Monday. How does that factor into your conversations?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, obviously there is things that you do when it rains as an offense, as a defense, as special teams, and every rain is -- if it's a downpour, you know, what's the field condition.
And then you do the same thing with wind.
There is 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, you know, catching of the wet ball during drills, couple periods devoted towards the wet ball during practice.
You prepare for those things like you prepare for a defense or offense or anything like that. You're just trying to put your guys in positions to help prepare for what the game will be like.
So with 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 towards it.
But we have prepped for it like we do before any rain game. Ya'll saw how 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. First time back to KC as a head coach. You started your career there; met your wife there. Super Bowl stuff aside, is there significance going back there?
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, Kansas City, you know, 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 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 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.
NICK SIRIANNI: In Kansas City? Yeah, that was rough. Yeah, thanks for bringing it up. (Laughing.)
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.
You know, through good, bad, you learn, right, and you grow when you have a growth mindset.
And so bad season, but got to be around good people during that bad season. Alex Tanney was one of those people that now works for us that was a rookie quarterback on that football team.
Jim Bob Cooter and I worked together during that time. Obviously came to be a part of this staff and now is with Shane in Indianapolis. Always try to find the positive times through that.
Yeah, what was a rough year.
Q. We heard a couple players this week say, can't win a ring on Monday night. Sounds like it's being echoed. Did that come from you?
NICK SIRIANNI: You know, we just talk in here and everything like that. I mean, the sentiment of like they're not giving us their ring back if we beat them this week. We're not going up there to win the Super Bowl. We're going to play a good football 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 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 Goedert is not on IR, does that suggest you expect him back?
NICK SIRIANNI: Yeah, 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.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports