Bodden had franchise record-tying three interceptions, returning the first for a touchdown. It was the ninth time a Patriot recorded three picks in a game, the first since Asante Samuel turned the trick against the Bears in 2006.

In a couple of instances Bodden was in the right place on a bad throw and on another he made a nifty move to snag a Sanchez offering. In preparing for the Jets, Bodden said he was able to tell some of Sanchez’s tendencies.

“We actually look at turnovers every week on Saturday,’’ Bodden said. “He’s thrown some balls to guys and we definitely knew we could probably get some of those [yesterday]. We just had to catch them. That’s what one of my old coaches said, ‘You just gotta catch the ones they throw to you’ and we did [yesterday.]’’

Bodden returned his first interception 53 yards for a touchdown to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

“To be honest with you man, I don’t what was up with that,’’ said Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather, who also picked off Sanchez. “Leigh had a great day . . . He watched a lot of film this week and it showed.’’

While he was out, Mark LeVoir subbed in at left tackle. LeVoir spent most of the season on the physically unable to perform list with a shoulder injury but was activated in October. When LeVoir wasn’t in at tackle, he checked in at tight end.

“You just prepare as if you’re playing the whole game,’’ said LeVoir, who recovered a fumble and put a big hit on Donald Strickland, knocking the Jets cornerback out of the game. “On the sideline, you stay in tune to what plays are being called and what adjustments they make so that if something unfortunate were to happen, you could just step in. It’s just a lot of mental reps.’’

Vollmer returned to start the third quarter. The Patriots line looked like it could be down another player when Nick Kaczur was caught in a pile after quarterback Tom Brady was sacked toward the end of the second quarter. Kaczur managed to shake off the injury and stayed in the game.

“They take their job to heart and want to come out and do good for the better of the team,’’ center Dan Koppen said. “We had some guys really toughing through some things and hats off to them.’’

Running back Kevin Faulk was also impressed.

“They were there to keep us in the game and hold their own,’’ Faulk said. “That’s what they’re here for. Coach [Bill Belichick] always says he doesn’t keep guys here that he doesn’t believe can do the job when another guy goes down.’’

Hanson said he will have to watch the film to see exactly what happened on the block.

“It was just a play that we didn’t execute and we’ll go back and look at film,’’ he said.

Hanson had five punts for 201 yards, averaging 40.2 a punt. He said he didn’t make many adjustments after the block.

“You try not to let that affect you,’’ Hanson said. “You just keep trying to do your same routine and your same thing and go from there. I think the guys for the most part did a real good job in that area [yesterday] compared to the first game.’’

Following the 35-34 loss against the Colts, Briggs was escorting Belichick off the field when he forced down an NBC cameraman running beside Belichick.

Adam Kilgore of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Monique Walker can be reached at mwalker@globe.com.