Mike Vrabel played his share of games in Denver as a player over the course of his 14-year career.

Now, as New England’s head coach, Vrabel will lead the Patriots to play in high altitude for a trip to Super Bowl LX.

But Vrabel doesn’t feel like the Patriots need to do anything too special to prepare to play in Denver for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.

“No tricks,” Vrabel said in his Monday press conference. “Just play well, try to be prepared and the better condition that you are, the less of an impact that that’s going to make. There’s no tricks.”

Vrabel feels that way in part because there isn’t enough time to truly get acclimated to the altitude anyway.

“Other than going out there last Thursday — which wouldn’t have been an ideal situation considering we had to play last night, but I think just physiologically you have to be at altitude for longer than a day or two or three. It takes time to do that,” Vrabel said. “So, we’ll do what we’ve always done. We’ll travel, be in condition and be ready to play. That’s kind of about what it is.”

As head coach of the Titans, Vrabel’s teams went 1-1 playing regular-season games in Denver.

According to 9NEWS Denver’s Mike Klis, Denver Broncos special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi is expected to interview for the Baltimore Ravens head coaching vacancy. He previously interviewed for the New York Giants head coaching position before they hired former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. Now, Rizzi will interview for Harbaugh’s old job in Baltimore.

Rizzi, along with Vance Joseph and Davis Webb, can interview in person for these head coaching jobs starting next week after the Championship games. If the Broncos lose, all three coaches will be eligible to be hired that week, but if they advance to the Super Bowl, interested teams will have to wait until after the Big Game to officially hire them.

Back in 2024, Rizzi served as the New Orleans Saints’ interim head coach and ended up being a popular coach amongst the fans and players during his short stint there. He did interview for the job last season, but it ended up going to Kellen Moore instead. Rizzi would then reunite with Sean Payton in Denver to be his special teams coordinator with the Broncos.

It was a slow start for Rizzi with the Broncos as the special teams unit had some struggles. However, the unit continued to improve as the season went on and became a reliable strength of this team. Kicker Wil Lutz was mostly automatic this season, rookie punter Jeremy Crawshaw improved as the year went on, the coverage units were solid, and returner Marvin Mims Jr. was a weapon and had a punt return touchdown.

Rizzi will be the third Denver Broncos coach to interview for the Ravens head coaching position. The Ravens met virtually with Vance Joseph and Davis Webb during the Broncos bye week and now will meet with Rizzi sometime in the future.

The Ravens moved on from Harbaugh after a disappointing season and will be looking for someone to turn them back into Super Bowl contenders and get MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson and that offense back on track.

An overnight snowstorm dropped 2 inches of snow on parts of the Denver area, and up to 8 inches in the mountains, according to reports from the National Weather Service.

As of 7:30 a.m. Monday, snow total reports from the weather service included:

• 1 inch in Boulder
• 2 inches at Denver International Airport
• 2 inches on Copper Mountain
• 2 inches in Breckenridge
• 2.2 inches in Littleton
• 2.5 inches in Estes Park
• 3 inches in Nederland
• 4 inches on Loveland Pass
• 8 inches in Eldora

Colorado snow totals for Jan. 19, 2026

The snow, which weather service meteorologists said started dwindling across the metro area at 5:30 a.m. and was expected to end around 8 a.m., created icy conditions for the Monday morning commute.

Sunny weather and clear skies are expected Monday afternoon, forecasters said. Denver will see temperatures peak at about 39 degrees, but warmer days with highs in the low 50s are forecast for the city in the days ahead, according to the weather service.