Kansas City is historically a tough matchup for visiting teams. The venue itself, Arrowhead Stadium, is an open-air facility with an imposing reputation.
"It's very loud. One of the loudest stadiums – if not the loudest stadium – in the NFL," cornerback Darrelle Revis said Thursday.
This will be the third road game for New England in its first four outings of the 2014 regular season. Having the game fall on Monday night carries with it both advantages and disadvantages.
Darrelle Revis visited the Bose headquarters to try out their new custom design process and create his own one-of-a-kind headphones.
James White, RB -- Dion Lewis is done for the year after ascending to a key role in the best offense in football. Now, it could fall to White to step up and contribute. The second-year former fourth-round pick has a lot of skills but, aside from an impressive summer, not a lot of NFL production to show for it. White's time may be now or never.
"It's tough, especially early in the season, but that's part of football. You have to be able to win on the road," remarked d-lineman/co-captain Vince Wilfork. "Another road game for us, to a place that's going to be rockin'. We understand what we have to do. I think the extra day kind of helped us, just to get some things squared away that maybe we want to do or we need to get cleaned up. But playing on the road is always tough. We have to do a real good job of communicating, making sure we know what we're doing and just being aware of all situations that could come up.
"We have to be on high alert, but we've been on the road before in some tough places. We've walked away with some Ws and some Ls. Don't want to walk away with an L, especially on Monday Night Football."
To prepare for Kansas City's notoriously ear-splitting decibel levels, the Patriots have been taking predictable measures at practice.
"We got the speakers out there for the offense and for the defense to be a little more quiet, so we can communicate a little bit better," Revis revealed. "But yeah, we've been practicing with the loud noise and music and whatnot, trying to get acclimated to what we'll have on Monday night."
The Chiefs' home crowd is deafening when the opposing team has the ball, but it can stay loud even when the KC offense is at work.
"Sometimes. It depends," Wilfork explained. "When the team gets close to the end zone, crowds can get crazy, if they pick up a first down or a fourth down or a big play – whatever it may be. It can get loud sometimes and it takes them a while to be quiet."
"Monday Night Football is always a big deal," added Revis. "We're excited to be on center stage and show the world how we perform."
And how loud does he expect it to get at Arrowhead?
"This'll be my first time playing in Kansas City," he chuckled. "I'll let you know after the game."
Practice report
For the second straight day, defensive tackle Sealver Siliga was the only Patriot not on the practice field. He injured a foot in the first quarter against Oakland this past Sunday and has not been seen since.
Siliga offered a cryptic message on his Twitter account last night, which seemed to indicate that he was dealing with something serious. "Life's trials are speed bumps to great outcomes," he wrote.
