Kansas City ice box: Saturday poised to be coldest regular-season game in Seahawks history

Geno Smith is counting on hand warmers.

DK Metcalf says he might be showing off his legendary physique.

“I may go out shirtless for warm-ups,” Metcalf said. “I don’t care about the cold.”

Defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt said he may go out in short sleeves. He grew up in New York City, then the snow-bound city of Rochester, New York.

Will Dissly has played in colder weather. Then again, he’s different.

He’s from Montana.

“I think it was negative-8 degrees in Montana in an eighth-grade cross town rivalry. I played fullback,” the Seahawks tight end and former University of Washington defensive lineman said this week. “And the fact that parents sat in the stands and watched 30 fullback dives in negative eight degrees is amazing.

“We lost. I still remember that game as clear as day. It was crazy. One of my best friends, Chandler (D’Agostino), he was playing safety. I ran a route. He grabbed me, and the ref threw the flag for pass interference — but also blew the whistle. They got together with an inadvertent whistle, and we had to retry the down. It was fourth down or something. We lost the game.

“I’m still upset about it, as you can tell. That one still eats at me.

“Chief Joseph Middle School and Sacagawea Middle School in Bozeman, Montana. Powerhouses that put out athletes.”

Dissly may be the only one who feels at home Saturday when the Seahawks (7-7) play a Christmas Eve chiller at Kansas City (11-3). The temperature inside Arrowhead Stadium for the noon local time (10 a.m. Pacific) kickoff is forecast to be 11 degrees with 24-mph wind gusts. That is predicted to produce wind chills during pregame that will make it feel like it’s 2 below zero.

It’s poised to be the coldest regular-season game in Seahawks history.

The only game colder: Seattle’s wild-card playoff win against the Minnesota Vikings on Jan. 10, 2016. Seahawks players taped their ear holes of their helmets closed because it was minus-6 degrees with a wind chill of 20 below zero that day at the University of Minnesota’s stadium in Minneapolis.

Russell Wilson said it was so cold the quarterback couldn’t yell in that game because “my mouth froze.”

That was at the home field for Seahawks rookie linebacker Boye Mafe the previous four football seasons before this one. The native of Golden Valley, Minnesota, just west of Minneapolis, said this week the coldest game he’s played in was not in Minnesota but for the home-state Gophers at Nebraska. It was 10 degrees with wind chills 10 below that day in Lincoln, Mafe said.

His plan for Saturday in Kansas City?

“Vaseline,” he said.

That is, for every exposed skin part.

Smith was born and raised in Miami. But he starred playing college football at West Virginia, then started his first two NFL seasons for the New York Jets in 2013 and ‘14.

What he’s focused on most for the cold and the game Saturday against the Chiefs: hand warmers.

“Just hand warmers. You have to stay warm, keep the blood flowing, and keep the body warm,” Smith said. “I don’t really prepare differently. Some guys are different. Every guy is different, so it’s custom to the person. For me, it’s pretty much the same. As long as I have a hand warmer and a nice jacket, I think I will be all right.”

Smith’s mindful of the need for a quarterback to have some warmth and thus moisture on his hands, to better grip the ball that is going to be more rock than leather in the extreme cold Saturday. Or, to better grip the gloves that will grip the ball.

Smith is also going to be aware of the factor that will ruin a quarterback’s day and game more than the cold, more than snow or rain or any other weather factor in a football game: the wind.

The 24-mph gusts will be the biggest issue at Arrowhead Stadium, which sits on land which is basically flat with nothing to stop the wind from the Rocky Mountains through Missouri to St. Louis. The National Weather Service has issued a wind-chill warning for Kansas City from Thursday through noon Saturday, kickoff time.

“If it’s not wind, I don’t think it affects it too much.”

Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron says he’s preparing a different plan for this game.

It will adjust for leading receiver Tyler Lockett, from nearby Kansas State University, will miss only the second game due to injury of his eight-year career. Lockett had surgery Monday to repair his broken left hand.

And Waldron’s game plan will adjust for the weather.

“Yeah, absolutely,” said Waldron, who played college football in Boston and had his first coaching experience with the New England Patriots.

“Having it in your mind what some of the alternative calls might be and it really, to me, it depends on what the actual weather is like at kickoff. How much does the wind affect the game, and are there other elements outside of that? Obviously, this one will be in the colder side of things. Seeing how everyone is reacting and how the ball is spinning in the air, and then making adjustments from there.

“You have to totally be prepared for either or scenarios going into a game where there is weather as a possible factor in the game.”