ryan shoulda gone down

Before writing a word of this, I need to note from the outset that I'm not a big football guy I enjoy watching a game, and I understand the basics. But some of the finer points are beyond me.

Having said that, there's something that puzzles me about the ending of yesterday's Patriots/Titans playoff game.

Let's set the stage.

The Patriots were down by one point with fifteen seconds left. They were deep in their own territory. Logan Ryan of the Titans intercepted Tom Brady's pass and returned it for a touchdown, putting the Titans up by seven with nine seconds left. Instead of going for the easy one point, the Titans went for the two-point conversion. I don't know whether it was the better move. It's easy to justify the decision, but it would also be easy to justify playing it safe. At any rate, the Titans missed the conversion, the ensuing kickoff was the last play of the game, and the Titans won by seven.

But here's my question: When Ryan intercepted the pass, should he have gone down, giving the Titans a first down? Then all they'd have to do is take a knee on one play (two if the Patriots still had a timeout) and run out the clock. With the touchdown, the Patriots still had a chance to return a kickoff for a touchdown.

I can only think of two possible responses:

• The risk of losing the ball as you try to take a knee is significant enough that it outweighs the prisk of the Patriots scoring on the kickoff
• In the heat of the moment, Ryan didn't stop to think through all the possibilities.

I'm guessing it's the latter, but I welcome responses from anyone who knows football better than I do.

NOTE: After I wrote this, I went searching for a video to include. In the one I chose (see above), one of the announcers made the same point that I did. Starting at about 35 seconds in, he said that the interception helped the Patriots.