Notebook: Chiefs and Eagles players, journalists discuss Super Bowl 57 Opening Night

Phoenix is the center of the football world this week before the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles play in Super Bowl 57 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale this Sunday. The pageantry of Monday's Opening Night officially set off Super Bowl week festivities as thousands of fans, media members, celebrities and both their mascots packed Footprint Center.

This week brings plenty of fanfare, many microphones in players' faces to answer questions about narratives, potential controversies, and other distractions off the field that could cause players to lose focus on the task at hand.

Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce knows that too well as he's set to play in his third Super Bowl in four seasons, including when Kansas City won in 2020. Kelce told The Republic it’s a challenge for players to not get distracted by it all.

“All the lights, all the questions, a lot of the scrutiny, the stage that you know you’re gonna play on, a lot of that can drain you mentally," Kelce said.

"It can give a lot of guys anxiety and build up tension that’s unwarranted. You don’t know that you’re going through all these things. You gotta be able to flip that switch on and off and it’s a hard thing to do,'' he added. "But we’ve got a lot of guys that have been here before fortunately, and we’re gonna use our leadership in that regard to let these younger guys know just how you gotta attack this week and how you gotta make sure you get that rest both physically and mentally.”

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni told The Republic that Monday night is usually when he's studying game films, but this week is completely different. However, he stresses to his players about how to balance the festivities and stick to the routine that got them this far.

“Treat it like every other week. I know there’s distractions. I mean, listen, we don’t get to do this every week, right?” Sirianni said. “This isn’t new in the NFL. ...

"It’s the same thing you tell a guy if he’s going to his hometown to play or going back to play against his former team. There’s always gonna be a subplot or there’s always gonna be something like that. The most important thing is that we stick to the process that got us here and go through the steps that got us here or win each day so we have to put ourselves in a position to win the game.”

Sirianni honored to face Andy Reid

This Super Bowl has four major subplots. Two of them are historic. The other two are related to the team's coaches: Chiefs' coach Andy Reid has veteran experience in the Super Bowl, and a lengthy résumé as former Eagles head coach and executive, compared to Sirianni.

There will be two Black starting quarterbacks in Eagles' Jalen Hurts and Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes facing each other for the first time ever in a Super Bowl. Also, Kelce and his older brother, Eagles center Jason Kelce, will be the first siblings to face each other.

In addition, Andy Reid will make his career's fifth total Super Bowl as a coach. The first was when he was the Green Bay Packers' assistant offensive line and tight ends coach when they won the 1996 title. The second time was when he was the Eagles' head coach and executive vice president of football operations when they lost Super Bowl 39 to the New England Patriots in 2005. After 14 years with the Eagles, Reid stepped down from both of his position in the organization in 2012 and joined Kansas City as its head coach the following year. He's led them to their first title in 50 years, and his career's first, in the 2019 season, as well as the Chiefs' loss in the next season's Super Bowl to Tampa Bay.

“Obviously just honored to go against Coach Reid and have so much respect for him, of what he’s done in his NFL career," Sirianni said to The Republic. "Guys still talk about him in our building with the Eagles. I know (Eagles executive vice president and general manager) Howie Roseman, I’ll ask him at times how Coach Reid handled this in this scenario because I’m really intrigued by how great coaches operate.”

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport on coverage

Many local and national media outlets' journalists to Super Bowl to get the biggest stories of their careers.

Ian Rapoport has experience doing both for NFL Network and as a former Patriots beat writer for the Boston Herald from 2009 to 2011. He's covered every Super since 2010, and in the following year when the Patriots lost in the Super Bowl to the New York Giants. Then Rapoport joined NFL Network in 2012 and has been one of the league's top breaking news sources for a decade.

He explained to The Republic the difference between covering the Super Bowl for national and local media outlets.

“It’s a little different because you’re sort of pulled out a little bit and you’re more focused on the macro storylines," Rapoport said. "I love it. I love the week, I love all the noise, I love sort of pomp and circumstance and everyone in the world paying attention when maybe they weren’t in Week 3 of 4 but this week they really are. I get a kick out of that. I like every celebrity getting involved, everyone having a say. All the non-football stuff associated with this week. It’s a lot of fun.”

The importance of Radio Row

Droves of sports talk radio and podcast hosts and personalities from all over the nation descend on Radio Row during Super Bowl week, one of sports talk radio's biggest weeks of the year. The radio stations remotely set up their broadcasts at the Phoenix Convention Center.

They have to vigorously compete for interviews with players, coaches and celebrities in order to gain listenership and viewership when their interviews are filmed, which leads to more revenue for their radio stations.

“Radio Row can be a jungle when it comes to competing for the best guests,” Fox Sports Radio's The Odd Couple co-host Rob Parker said. “We’re all looking for a big name and trying to get guests to give us more than he gave the previous nine interviews. Radio is huge, giving more content than TV,” Parker said. “Guys are more conversational and not having the bright lights allow them to speak more freely.”

ASU's journalism students cover Super Bowl

Arizona State's Cronkite School of Journalism is a short distance from the Phoenix Convention Center and Footprint Center, which allowed many students to walk less than half a mile to cover Opening Night. One of Cronkite's professors and longtime ESPN columnist William Rhoden, who's covered many Super Bowls since 1992, had six of his students work the event with him.

“It’s a great experience. I teach a course in column writing (Sports, Culture, and Commentary) and this is like a perfect venue for young people, young students who are writing columns because it’s all about opinion and perspective and it’s a great practice," Rhoden said, noting a challenge for the students amid so many journalists is ''how do you distinguish yourself?''

"We talked about it in class, but nothing prepares you for this. It’s like a game. They can talk to you about it, but you come here and it’s bizarre.”

Rhoden added that he mapped out his student’s coverage plans for Opening Night to not get them overwhelmed in the presence of so many media members.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Chiefs, Eagles, journalists discuss Super Bowl 57 Opening Night