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Sunday’s meeting between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles — the first since the Eagles triumphed in Super Bowl LII — should look quite different from the offensive bonanza two Februaries ago.

Those teams combined for 74 points, one punt and 1,151 yards, the latter a record for any game in NFL history.

Neither offense is clicking at the same level this season, and neither has as dangerous of a set of weapons, which is likely a bigger problem for the Eagles.

1. Patriots’ D must focus on Ertz, Sanders

Without DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia’s offense lacks speed and vertical weapons. Alshon Jeffery got free for a few big plays downfield in the Super Bowl, but that’s not much of his repertoire any longer.

The Patriots will be comfortable playing one-on-one man coverage against almost all of the Eagles’ targets. That will allow Bill Belichick to put additional attention on tight end Zach Ertz and, to a lesser degree, running back Miles Sanders.

Ertz is the team’s best weapon, but he’s not a gamebreaker or vertical threat. Belichick could assign a cornerback to him — J.C. Jackson is the typical choice — and will certainly bracket Ertz with a safety at times, including the majority of third downs and high-leverage situations.

Sanders has created most of the Eagles’ explosive plays without Jackson. Belichick likes to handle running backs with blitz/peel calls — the edge defender rushes unless the back releases to his side — and could also use a “bullseye” technique to disrupt Sanders’ routes. If he’s healthy, Patrick Chung would be a great man-to-man match for Sanders, but Belichick could also use Devin McCourty.

It’s hard to imagine the Eagles’ passing game thriving given the Patriots’ resources, so the run game will be critical. New England’s run defense has been exploited of late, and Philadelphia has leaned more heavily on Jordan Howard.

2. Texans run defense in the spotlight

By cumulative statistics, the Houston Texans’ run defense is terrific, ranking third in rushing allowed per game (84.1). But the unit is less impressive by efficiency (4.14 yards per carry allowed, 13th in the NFL), and is trending down, with a 4.45 average allowed in six quarters since J.J. Watt sustained a season-ending torn pec.

There’s no greater test for a run defense than the Baltimore Ravens’ offense, which leads the league by a wide margin in total rushing (197.2 to runner-up San Francisco’s 161.8) and average (5.51 to Cleveland’s 5.23) after carving up the Patriots and Bengals. With Lamar Jackson’s legs, the Ravens stress defenses in all kinds of ways, usually from heavier sets.

The Ravens often feature two or three tight ends and/or fullback Patrick Ricard, drawing more base defenses and slower defenders on the field. Recall in last year’s playoffs, the Chargers stopped Jackson with six- and seven-DB packages that put more speed on the field to corral him. But it’s hard to play those packages against three-TE sets.

Likewise, Baltimore uses tight ends (and Ricard) to change the point of attack and gap assignments. On any given play, a tight end or fullback could be a lead blocker, a kick-out man on counter, a “slice” or “sift” blocker on split zone, a decoy on an arc release or actually running a route, all from various alignments via formation and motion. That’s a lot of movement for a defense to process, even before deciphering whether Jackson is giving or keeping the ball.

3. Pass rush will decide Chiefs-Chargers on MNF

The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers both have protection problems.

With left tackle Eric Fisher out, and others banged up across the line, life has been much tougher for Patrick Mahomes than in 2018. He’s mostly handled it fine, but he’ll now face the duo of Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram.

The Chargers move both players around the formation, flipping sides or putting both on the same side with one — usually Ingram — over a guard. That’s a nightmare for most guards, especially backups or starters who have swapped sides due to injury, as the Chiefs have recently.

Meanwhile, the Chargers’ offensive tackle situation flat out cost them the Week 10 game in Oakland. After left tackle Russell Okung went down early — and with right tackle Sam Tevi already out — Los Angeles played Trent Scott (the Week 1-7 starter at LT) at right tackle and Trey Pipkins (a rookie from Sioux Falls) on Philip Rivers’ blind side. Scott was worse on the right side than he’d been on the left, and Pipkins was — as you’d expect — completely overmatched.

Making matters worse, the Chargers’ interior was the biggest concern entering the season, before Mike Pouncey’s injury. While Scott Quessenberry, a 2018 fifth-rounder, has been a pleasant surprise filling in at center, this group is marginal at best.

It will be interesting to see where the Chiefs play their best pass-rusher, Chris Jones. Normally an interior player, he’s spent significant time on the edge in recent weeks, and that could continue with end Emmanuel Ogbah out for the year. Jones moves very well for a 300-pounder and has the strength to collapse the pocket from anywhere.

4. Juicy matchup for Cowboys’ offense

The Dallas Cowboys have lost four of six games, averaging just 20 points in those defeats. But those results belie what is — on paper and on tape — one of the NFL’s best offenses.

Dak Prescott is playing comfortably the best football of his career, and his pass protection has been outstanding. Dallas has weapons at every position — including supplementary pieces in Michael Gallup and Blake Jarwin — and a sharp play designer in Kellen Moore. Despite inconsistent results on the scoreboard, Dallas ranks first in total offense (437.4), yards per play (6.65) and yards per attempt (8.42).

That should translate this week, as the Detroit Lions’ defense lacks threatening pass rushers and has not held up well enough in the man coverage that Matt Patricia prefers. With the group also declining in run defense (4.61 yards per carry allowed, 23rd), all signs point to a scoring explosion from the Cowboys.

5. Things look bleak for McVay, Rams’ offense

Conversely, the Los Angeles Rams’ offense is in dire straits, just in time for a rematch with the defense that undressed Sean McVay’s team on national television last December.

The Chicago Bears were the first to pair the 6-1 front with primarily Cover-4 against the Rams, who have since struggled to combat the approach against the Patriots and many other teams. Worse, L.A.’s running game has collapsed. The Steelers didn’t even need a 6-1 front to shut it down last week.

The biggest issue is not the 6-1/Cover-4 blueprint, but rather an offensive line in shambles. After all five O-linemen started all 32 games from 2017-18 — an exceedingly rare run of health — the Rams have lost left guard Joe Noteboom and Brian Allen for the season, and right tackle Rob Havenstein will miss time, too.

Noteboom and Allen — new starters replacing the departed Rodgers Saffold and John Sullivan — weren’t thriving to begin with and have now been replaced by inexperienced backups. Soon-to-be 38-year-old left tackle Andrew Whitworth is finally showing his age.

Chicago’s defense has regressed some — as expected — and remains without Akiem Hicks, but it’s still well suited to slow down L.A.

–By David DeChant (@DavidDeChant), Field Level Media