New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's improvement on third downs in the NFL playoffs is a huge reason why his team is headed to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta to play the Los Angeles Rams.

The Patriots, and Brady in particular, struggled throughout the regular season to convert on third downs, especially when they passed the ball in those situations. The postseason, however, has been a far different story. Check out the stats below as proof.

The #Patriots' conversion rate on third down pass plays in the playoffs is 68.2, a drastic improvement from 35% during the regular season.



Brady's completion percentage has gone from 52.4 in the regular season (29th out of 33 qualifiers) to 81.8 in the playoffs. — Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) January 23, 2019

The Patriots really excelled on third down during their 37-31 overtime win against the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday's AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium.

They converted 13 of 19 third-down plays versus the Chiefs overall.

The Patriots converted on three first downs on their opening drive that ended in a touchdown. They converted a huge third down in their final scoring drive of regulation, and most impressively, they converted three third downs on the winning drive in overtime. Those conversions in overtime were three 3rd-and-10 plays.

Brady will need to continue this success to give the Patriots a strong chance to beat the Rams because L.A.'s defense has an opponents' third-down percentage of 29.2, the second-best in the playoffs. The Rams ranked 12th during the regular season.

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