Pats make most of Sanchez's mistakes
Photo credit: AP | New England Patriots cornerback Leigh Bodden heads for a touchdown after intercepting a pass intended for New York Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery. (Nov. 22, 2009)
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Photos: Patriots 31, Jets 14
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - When it comes right down to it, the key to the Patriots intercepting Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez four times Sunday was simple, in cornerback Leigh Bodden's view.
"He's thrown some balls to guys," Bodden said. "We definitely knew we probably would get some. We just had to catch them."
Bodden had a hat trick, intercepting three, including one he returned 53 yards for the game's first touchdown. Brandon Meriweather made the final pick in the fourth quarter to set up the clinching TD in the Patriots' 31-14 victory.
The last three looked as though the Pats were Sanchez's intended receivers. On the first, Sanchez locked his eyes on wideout Jerricho Cotchery, and Bodden waited on the inside before jumping on the ball and racing down the sideline. "Cotchery ran to the outside and tried to cut back in," Bodden said. "I saw the ball and went for it, and the rest was history. I knew I had six."
Bodden's second interception came on a pass thrown too far ahead of the Jets' Braylon Edwards; it led to a field goal that gave the Pats a 24-0 lead in the second quarter. The Jets cut it to 24-14 and had the ball at their own 48 to start the fourth quarter, but on first down, Sanchez badly underthrew Edwards and Bodden collected it.
Sanchez was scrambling at his 7 midway in the fourth when he threw a wounded duck that Meriweather carried to the Jets' 35. Bodden was blitzing off the corner on that play and thought he was going to get a strip-sack.
"But he launched it,'' he said. "That's what you want to do to a young quarterback is keep pressure on him to make some bad throws and bad decisions."
Sanchez obliged.
