Logan Ryan has a TB12 ball for the mantle

[T-Rac]

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Titans cornerback Logan Ryan had a special season, but precious little to show for his efforts in the regular season. He now has something for his trophy case: A football thrown by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, caught by Ryan, and returned for a touchdown.

Ryan should have had a pick-six early in the game. Instead, he got a touchdown on what could ultimately be Brady’s final play as a member of the Patriots.

“Everyone knows I should have had the one before half time,” Ryan told reporters after the game. “I was looking at the run before I even secured the catch. I never do that. I always pride myself on having great hands and I dropped the easiest pick of my career. But I had faith, I said the ball’s going to come back to me. I think everyone on my teammates knew that was a fluke. They said that the ball was going to come back to me again and I believed it. What do you know? It came back to me again. So I appreciate TB12 for that one. That one is going on my mantle.”

Ryan also could end up getting a Super Bowl ring to put on his hand.

“It feels great, man,” Ryan said of the win over the Patriots. “We put a lot of work in. We had a lot of belief. It was a different feeling than coming up here [for the playoffs] two years ago. Two years ago, I think we were happy to be here, happy to be in the game. This time we believed we could win and I think that showed. We challenged them, we didn’t back down. Hats off to Bill [Belichick], Tom [Brady], Julian [Edelman] those guys. It’s hard to do here, I know I’ve been on that side, so I know how hard it is to do. I don’t know if it’s hit us yet, it’s hard to do here. We believed we could.”

They’ll also believe they can do it in Baltimore next Saturday night. Which could make for a divisional-round game to remember.