FOXBORO — After Leigh Bodden made history Sunday afternoon in New England’s 31-14 victory over the New York Jets, intercepting Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez three times to tie a franchise record held by Asante Samuel (Nov. 26, 2006 against Chicago), he walked into his postgame press conference wearing a Michael Jordan jersey.

One could make the case that Bodden, who wears No. 23 on the football field, had a Jordan-like game. And so he was asked if the No. 23 should be retired, which is a hot topic in the NBA.

“Not here,” Bodden joked. “Not yet. I’ve got to get a few more three-pick games, and then maybe.”

Unlike Jordan, Bodden is not a Hall of Fame player, but he certainly played like one on Sunday. Of the Jets top-two receivers, neither Jerricho Cotchery (3 catches, 84 yards, 1 TD) nor Braylon Edwards (1 catch, 10 yards) had a catch while Bodden was covering them.

“He had a great game,” Patriots linebacker Pierre Woods said of Bodden. “As a defensive back or any other player, you wish you could have a game like that. Big ups to Leigh.”

“Leigh played tremendous tonight,” Pat cornerback Jonathan Wilhite added.

On Bodden’s first pick, Sanchez threw the ball to the outside shoulder of Cotchery, but Cotchery looked for the ball on the inside. Bodden intercepted the pass and sprinted 53-yards up the right sideline for a touchdown that gave the Pats a 7-0 lead, setting the tone for the game.

“I was just playing man-to-man, press [coverage],” Bodden said. “Cotchery ran to the outside and tried to cut back in. I saw the ball and just went for it, caught it, and the rest was history.”

When he hauled in the interception, Bodden knew he was going to score.

“I pretty much knew I had six, I just had to beat six. Beat Sanchez,” Bodden said. “I just had to beat him to the spot [on my way] to the end zone, and I thought I had enough speed.”

“Leigh played great coverage and he just happened to step in front of a pass that Cotchery thought he was going to get,” Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather said. “Leigh does that all the time in practice, but it just happened to come all together in this game.”

Bodden halted the Jets’ second drive of the second quarter by intercepting a Sanchez pass intended for Braylon Edwards at the Pats’ 41. He returned it seven yards to the Pats’ 48. It helped set up a 26-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal that gave the Pats a 24-0 cushion.

“Jonathan Wilhite got a good jam on Braylon, and I think [Sanchez] was just trying to throw it to a spot, and it was low and I caught it,” Bodden said.

His third pick ended the Jets’ hopes of a comeback. The Jets had slashed New England’s lead to 24-14 and were looking to pull within three early in the fourth quarter when Bodden intercepted a Sanchez pass intended for Cotchery at the Pats’ 26.

“It was intended for [Cotchery] and I just came off my man and got the interception,” Bodden said.

And if that was not enough, Bodden rushed Sanchez on a cornerback blitz on the Jets’ ensuing possession and Sanchez rushed his pass. Meriweather made him pay for that mistake by picking him off at the Jets’ 29.

“I was coming on a corner blitz and I saw the ball in his right hand,” said Bodden, who also had three tackles and three pass deflections. “I thought I was going to get a strip-sack, but he launched it and I tried to hit him as hard as I could.”

Sanchez said that the picks were the result of bad decisions on his part.

Bodden now has a team-high five interceptions on the season, which ties him for the third-most in the NFL. He also has 38 tackles and a team-high 12 pass deflections.

“As soon as I got here, the guys embraced me,” said Bodden, who signed a one-year, $2.25-million contract with the Pats in March. “They embraced all of the newcomers, and I think that helps with the secondary. When guys bond, we trust each other. I think we’re definitely gelling, but we still have a long way to go and we’re getting better.”

roblee@projo.com