Patriots’ cornerback Ty Law has had another stellar season.

FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – Ty Law doesn’t want to talk about one of his biggest plays this season.

It was an interception for a touchdown that sealed a victory over Tennessee, the first in New England’s current 12-game winning streak. Now the cornerback is focusing on the rematch Saturday night for the right to advance to the AFC championship game.

“That is over now,” he said Tuesday of the 38-30 win Oct. 5 that gave the Patriots a 3-2 record. “We are a new Patriots team. They are a new Titans team. Anything that happened in that previous game does not really matter.”

His interception mattered plenty at the time.

Five days before the season opener, one of his best friends, safety Lawyer Milloy, was released in a salary dispute. Law has played with the knowledge that it could happen to him next year if he refuses to restructure his contract.

He’s also played through an ankle sprain suffered in the second game that caused him to miss just one game and has adjusted to three new starters in the secondary. But he made the Pro Bowl for the third straight year.

“To say this is my best season, I don’t know,” Law said. “I have had some pretty good seasons in nine years so I don’t want to put this above anything else, but I am appreciating this season a lot more because of some of the things that happened early on”

Law had six interceptions this season, second most in his career. He led the NFL with nine interceptions in 1998, the first of his four Pro Bowl seasons.

“He’s had a lot of monster years,” linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. “It seems like he’s always making plays and putting the ball in the end zone for us. So I’m not surprised at what he’s done this year. And I don’t think it’s his best year. I think it’s just him being himself.”

Of his 35 regular-season interceptions, six have been returned for touchdowns, including the one in the comeback win at home against Tennessee.

Trailing 27-24, the Patriots went ahead on Mike Cloud’s 15-yard touchdown run with 3:14 left in the game. The Titans got the ball, but Law picked off Steve McNair’s pass and returned it 65 yards for the touchdown.

“We had a good chance of winning it,” McNair said. “When you throw an interception and you go out for a two-minute drive, that kind of hurts, a knife in your heart. But it happens.”

Especially with an outstanding cornerback like Law.

“He studies, he anticipates, he recognizes formations and splits and reads receivers very well and the quarterback very well,” Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. “He made a great play and was the difference in that ballgame.”

Two weeks earlier, Law sat out part of a 23-16 win over the New York Jets. He was still hobbled against the Titans and missed part of the second half.

“He was jumping up and down asking me to come in,” coach Bill Belichick said.

Law is just too competitive to watch.

“My peers playing in games afterwards were just really basically wishing me well and hoping that I would get better,” he said, “but really respecting me for still going out there and continuing to play.”

Law did miss the seventh game of the season but has played every one since and said he feels much better than he did in the first game against Tennessee. His dedication to taking care of the injury and preparing extensively has paid off.

“Best cornerback in the league,” safety Rodney Harrison said, “but the thing that impresses me most about Ty Law is how hard he works.”

On Saturday night, he’ll face co-MVP McNair and a deep wide receiver corps – Derrick Mason, Justin McCarreins, Drew Bennett and Tyrone Calico. But after watching the playoff games last weekend, he can’t wait to get back on the field.

“You don’t want to sit around too long and lose the feel for the game,” Law said. “We are eager to get back out there on the field and I think we will show that when game time comes.”

AP-ES-01-06-04 2050EST