FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — From swagger to stagger.

That sums up the arc of the 2009 Jets, who now have lost six of their last seven games. And whether they admit it or not, they soon will have to start thinking about 2010.
The Jets’ 31-14 loss to New England at Gillette Stadium on Sunday all but extinguished their playoff chances. New England (7-3) avenged a 16-9 loss to the Jets (4-6) on Sept. 20, and dropped the Jets to 1-4 in games against the AFC East.
The Patriots also contributed to quarterback Mark Sanchez’s downward spiral. He threw four interceptions and lost a fumble for the second five-turnover game of his rookie season. He has 16 interceptions and 10 touchdown passes this season, yet he doesn’t feel as if he is regressing from his fast beginning when the rookie won his first three NFL starts.
“I’m learning a lot,” Sanchez said. “It’s hard to see by the stats.”
Or by the results. Sanchez seems to be making a lot of the same mistakes. His first pick of the day put the Jets in an early hole, as he locked in on intended receiver Jerricho Cotchery. But cornerback Leigh Bodden, who had a career-high three interceptions, stepped in front and made the grab, and his 53-yard return for a touchdown gave the Pats a 7-0 first-quarter lead.
Sanchez said the pick occurred because of a “poor throw,” even though there was plenty of traffic in the area with wideout David Clowney also nearby. Bodden tormented Sanchez again in the second quarter, this time with an interception off a pass intended for Braylon Edwards. That led to a field goal that gave New England a 24-0 lead.
Bodden’s third interception didn’t lead to points, but Brandon Meriweather’s pick did, as he intercepted an ill-advised fourth-quarter throw by Sanchez, who was under heavy pressure. The Jets were trailing, 24-14, at the time, and the turnover set up New England’s clinching score.
“That’s a situation where we just need to get a couple first downs,” Sanchez said, “dig ourselves out of a backed-up situation and put some points on the board. ... I was just trying to create and do too much.”
But that’s what rookie quarterbacks have been known to do, no matter how talented. But coach Rex Ryan said he never thought of pulling Sanchez on Sunday and doesn’t intend to do so anytime soon.
“We’ve got to have patience with him,” Ryan said. “I think he’s going to be an outstanding quarterback. He’s our quarterback for the future and he’s our quarterback now.”
“I just tell (Sanchez) to pick his head up,” veteran fullback Tony Richardson said when asked what advice he can give to the struggling youngster, “and keep playing football, because obviously he is very talented and can help this team win. ... We are going to follow him 100 percent because he’s the leader of this football team. When we watch the film, (we’ll see) all of us could have done something to help win this ballgame. Obviously, it’s not just him. It falls on the entire offense.”
And that offense accomplished little in the first half. Consider that the Jets had 34 yards in the first two quarters, 26 fewer than Bodden traveled on his two first-half picks.
The Jets were down, 24-0, before Eric Smith blocked a punt and Brad Smith returned it 4 yards to cut the halftime deficit to 24-7.
“This is the first game I felt we got our butts kicked,” Ryan said.
Tom Brady passed for 227 of his 310 yards in the first half as the Jets couldn’t stop Wes Welker, who finished with 15 catches for 192 yards. The Jets made defensive adjustments in the second half and slowed down Brady and Welker, but it was too late.
“We decided we wanted to play” in the second half, linebacker Calvin Pace said. “We came out with a little energy. ... In the first half, we didn’t do enough to impact the game.”
A defense has to be a lot stiffer to carry a rookie quarterback who’s struggling.
The Patriots “scored 17 points off four turnovers by the quarterback,” Sanchez said, “and that’s how we (lost). ... I just tried to do a little too much. You can’t do that against a great defense like this.”
Sanchez, who threw a 29-yard scoring pass to Cotchery, said he is learning from his mistakes.
“I need to be smarter and more conservative with the football,” Sanchez said, blaming his failure to do that for his last two interceptions. “When the play is over, it’s over.”
At this point, the same probably can be said for the Jets’ season. They didn’t even entertain questions about the playoffs, with right tackle Damien Woody summing up the prevailing mind-set.
“It’s all about getting one win,” he said, “starting with Carolina next week.”
Who knew in mid-September that wins would be so hard to come by?