As the New England Patriots defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia is preparing his players to face the third-highest scoring team in the league for the NFL championship on Sunday.

The Patriots will play the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII at 5:30 p.m. CST Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. After that game, Patricia is expected to be named the head coach of the Detroit Lions.

At Super Bowl Opening Night at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Monday, Deion Sanders of NFL Network asked Patricia if he planned to keep his beard when he became a head coach, and if he did, Sanders advised Patricia to dye it black.

But Patricia joked the gray hairs have meaning - and names.

"I name all the gray hairs through the course of the week," Patricia said. "There's a particular quarterback right there. I've got Cam Newton in here somewhere. He's still got me from earlier in the year."

Matt Patricia is way funnier than Bill Belichick pic.twitter.com/Xjyn2NVJgi — SI Extra Mustard (@SI_ExtraMustard) January 30, 2018

Newton led the Carolina Panthers to a 33-30 victory over the Patriots on Oct. 1, one of only three losses suffered by New England in 18 games since the start of the regular season.

The former Auburn standout completed 22-of-29 passes for 316 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Newton also ran eight times for 44 yards and a touchdown.

The game was Newton's second against New England. In Patricia's second season as the Patriots' defensive coordinator, Carolina defeated New England 24-20 on Nov. 18, 2013, as Newton completed 19-of-28 passes for 209 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions and ran seven times for 62 yards.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton dives for a touchdown against the New England Patriots during an NFL game on Oct. 1, 2017, in Foxborough, Mass.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.