One of the areas where the Patriots improved dramatically was in third-down conversions, a very important category. Not only did they go from fifth in the league at 45.9 percent to first at 48.7 percent, they were better across the board relative to the rest of the league in every category: third-and-1 (12th to first), third-and-10-plus (18th to first), third-and-short (fifth to third), third-and-medium (seventh to first), and third-and-long (15th to fifth).