FOXBOROUGH Bobby Okereke Jersey , Mass. (AP) — leading up to Sunday’s AFC championship game, mostly brushing aside questions about being an underdog for one of the few times during the Patriots‘ unprecedented run of titles.But when Rex Burkhead crossed the goal line for a 2-yard touchdown to give New England a 37-31 overtime win over the Kansas City Chiefs, Brady let joy alter his usual coy demeanor.He ripped off his helmet and leapt wildly in the air as his teammates rushed the field around him. The Patriots were heading back to another Super Bowl.It will mark their third straight appearance for the Patriots and ninth overall for Brady, who again will be chasing a record sixth ring.A victory over the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams would also put an emphatic stamp on what may have been the Patriots’ toughest road to a Super Bowl since Brady and Bill Belichick earned their first ring together in 2001.“The odds were stacked against us. It hasn’t been that way in a while and it certainly was this year,” Brady said.The obstacles that Brady referred to occurred both on and off the field for this latest incarnation of the Patriots.The offseason saw the departure of several key players from last year’s team that came up short in a Super Bowl loss to Philadelphia. Receiver Brandin Cooks was traded to the Rams and cornerback Malcolm Butler, running back Dion Lewis, receiver Danny Amendola, and offensive linemen Nate Solder and Cam Fleming all left in free agency.Then came news that stalwart receiver Julian Edelman would be suspended for the first four games of the regular season for violating the league’s policy on performance enhancers.It helped contribute to a surprise 1-2 start and the first — albeit small — signs of age for the 41-year-old Brady.New England took a chance and traded for receiver Josh Gordon after Cleveland decided it was time to part ways with him. His arrival helped calm things and contributed to six consecutive victories.But questions returned after a lopsided Week 10 loss at Tennessee that exposed vulnerabilities on both sides of the ball. The Patriots won their next two, but then suffered a fluky last-second loss at Miami.That was followed by a loss at Pittsburgh and the abrupt loss of Gordon when he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for violating an agreement that allowed him to play after multiple drug suspensions.Still, despite facing the prospect of not having their usual home-field advantage in the postseason, the Patriots rediscovered their run game and offensive efficiency during wins over the Bills and Jets to close the regular season.Brady threw for four touchdowns and had his highest quarterback rating of the season in the 38-3 victory over the Jets. It set the stage for a vintage performance by Brady in their divisional-round playoff win over the Chargers. And on Sunday against Kansas City, he had 348 yards passing despite throwing two interceptions.He also got support from a resurgent defense and revamped rushing attack on offense. The latter has gotten back-to-back 100-yard rushing games from rookie Sony Michel Khari Willis Jersey , who set a rookie NFL playoff record with five touchdowns in his first two postseason games.Also making huge contributions in the fourth quarter and OT against the Chiefs were both Edelman and tight end Rob Gronkowski.Gronk’s regular season was mostly underwhelming as he dealt with nagging injuries, but he was surehanded at the perfect time against Kansas City, catching six passes for 79 yards. Edelman had seven catches for 96 yards as both came through with huge third-down catches late in the game.Gronk said he took his cues from Brady.“You’re always comfortable with Tom going down on drives,” said Gronkowski, who is the first tight end with 1,000 postseason receiving yards. “He’s always ready for these moments. And that’s why he’s the best quarterback — hands down.“It was one of the sweeter victories definitely of my career.”The Patriots will have a chance to top it in two weeks in Atlanta.Safety Devin McCourty said it’s a position they always thought they’d be in.“We’re not worried about stats. We’re not worried about Pro Bowls, All-Pros,” he said. “When we come back in April each year, it’s about getting to this game no matter what it takes.“This year was a tough one. We battled some things. We’ve been questioned and doubted by a lot of people. But I think the great thing is we trust in what we believe. Our faith never wavered inside the locker room.” ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Sunglasses shield your eyes from the infrared lights that give oxygen to your body’s cells. Ugg boots, rubber gloves and shorts are the only protection from freezing temperatures as cold as minus 200 degrees. Then comes the sensory deprivation of floating pitch black in 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt while meditation music plays.And that’s just at work. At home is a custom-made mattress designed to get just the right amount of sleep.Massage tables Josh Allen Jersey , zero gravity chairs, a laser-therapy table that looks like a tanning bed, a cryotherapy chamber and giant float pods make up the Washington Redskins‘ state-of-the-art rest and recovery room.Combined with advanced mattress and pillow technology, it’s all part of Washington’s pursuit of better injury prevention and recovery after no NFL team put more players on season-ending injured reserve over the past two years combined.“It’s more like restoration,” head athletic trainer Larry Hess told The Associated Press during a recent visit to the recovery room. “There’s things in here that are setting their body up to perform better in the weight room, to perform better in their meetings mentally. Mental preparedness. That’s where our advantage is.”Professional and college sports teams are always looking for the next edge, and the Redskins hope they’re on the right track by zeroing in on rest and relaxation as a way to keep players healthier and more focused. The idea came from Hess and owner Dan Snyder visiting English Premier League soccer clubs and discovering after nutrition and player tracking, they considered sleep the next great frontier.Hess and player recovery director Hutch Call struck up a partnership early last season with Bedgear , which works closely with cutting edge owner Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks and provides Redskins players, coaches and staff with mattresses, pillows, sheets and blankets optimized for their needs. Call said focus gleaned from the right amount of sleep could be the difference between a receiver catching a ball and bringing it down and getting it knocked out of his hands Jawaan Taylor Jersey , plus there are more practical elements.“Our bodies go through a restoration process while we sleep, doing important things like balancing hormones related to tissue growth, stress control, appetite and weight management,” MIT research scientist and Bedgear sleep scientist and biometrics expert Lorenzo Turicchia said. “When a person does not get the right amount of sleep, their bodies will not be able to adequately repair damaged tissues, thus prolonging the healing time.”Redskins players have required plenty of healing. The team led the league with 27 players on injured reserve last season and put 19 players on in 2017 .Late in the 2017 season, since-released safety D.J. Swearinger criticized some teammates for not taking care of their bodies well enough to limit preventable injuries, which contributed to missing the playoffs.“You’re not supposed to wait till something happens to you to get treatment,” Swearinger said at the time. “You’re supposed to do stuff to prevent injuries, and I don’t think as a group we did that as much as other teams I’ve been on. … Some injuries are freak injuries.”Another injury happened Monday when linebacker Reuben Foster stepped on an offensive lineman’s foot and went down wrong on his left leg. Foster had to be carted off in another hard-luck injury for Washington that’s hard to prevent.“When you have broken bones, (torn) ACLs Josh Oliver Jersey , things like that, you’re going to have those type of injuries,” Hess said.Hess said the team reduced soft-tissue injuries — such as sprains, strains, tendinitis and damage to muscles, tendons and ligaments — by more than 50 percent last season. He hopes that progress will continue now that players have a full offseason to take advantage of the recovery room at the practice facility.After a typical Sunday game, massage therapists and a chiropractor are available for players on Monday and then again Friday. The recovery room is always open and sometimes is the location of meetings to help a player relax and not hunch over a desk while watching film.The three-step restoration process starts with a minimum of 12 minutes inside a photobiomodulation bed that resembles a tanning booth and uses three types of infrared light to help repair cells all over the body. Hess said it’s good for recovery and studies have shown it improves strength on lifts in the weight room.The next step is three finger-tingling minutes inside the cryotherapy chamber, where it feels difficult to breathe because the extreme cold tricks the body into rushing blood to major organs to survive. It’s different than getting in a cold tub full of ice or putting an ice bag on because the seconds and minutes after cryotheraphy come with an endorphin release capable of waking up a groggy player.“Your core body temperature shoots up because of the fight-or-flight,” Call said. “You just had everything (go) to your major organs. Now it’s just shooting back out in your bloodstream.”The coup de grace is up to an hour latched inside one of three Superior float tanks designed to take away all the senses and that can actually make players fall asleep. Hess said it’s supposed to replicate the weightless feeling of a baby in a womb, and it feels similar to floating in the Dead Sea.“It’s an amazing experience,” Hess said. “Our goal is to get them to that pre-sleep state to shut their body down. It will lower their heart rate. The temperature of the water replicates your body temperature. Really we’re taking all sensation out.”A player showers and puts on lotion to keep the salt from damaging skin, and then a lot of times it’s off to bed to rest up for the next grueling day. Quarterback Colt McCoy has been big on giving feedback on bedding technology because he and his wife sleep at different temperatures.“The mattress and pillows are comfortable and cool Deandre Baker Jersey ,” McCoy said Monday. “I don’t sweat at night thanks to their technology. I get a full night’s rest and feel recharged every morning.”Bedgear is also working to develop ankle pillows to help athletes elevate their feet after the stress of a game or practice.“It’s a problem that a lot of the players have when they’re on their feet for hours during a game and they’re getting sort of this compression and swelling in their lower limbs,” Bedgear vice president of strategy Shana Rocheleau said. “They just kind of hodgepodge things together today to put their feet up and try to get the blood flowing.”Coach Jay Gruden said players choose how much of the recovery techniques they want to get involved with, and that varies throughout the roster. He has tried out the recovery room devices himself, thinks they’re pretty cool and most importantly believes they’ll make a difference on the injury front.“Give these guys just another way to help them recover,” Gruden said. “The players, even if it gives them a mental state of mind where, ‘Hey, I feel pretty good,’ then let’s give them every avenue to feel that way.”