Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, 54, celebrating his interception and touchdown against Miami in 2003, is highly admired by teammates for overcoming personal adversity and his leadership by example on the field.

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The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Courageous.

Passionate.

A leader.

A football player.

Ask members of the New England Patriots what words come to mind when they think of Tedy Bruschi, and those are some of the descriptions you hear over and over again.

The 34-year-old linebacker, who came to New England from Arizona in 1996 with the NCAA’s career sack record, a mullet and a stretch of personal hurdles already cleared, has been the heart and soul of the Patriots defense for a decade.

Ironically, it was his heart that nearly took him out of the game and away from his family, far too soon.

Toughness.

Bruschi was at his professional peak three years ago: the Patriots had won their third Super Bowl championship in four years, and on the strength of his 128-tackle, 3½-sack, three-interception season, he went to his first Pro Bowl.

He and his wife, Heidi, had three young sons that the once-undersized defensive lineman doted on.

But one night, a few days after returning from Hawaii for the Pro Bowl, Bruschi lay awake, watching a re-air of the Pats’ AFC Championship win over Pittsburgh a month earlier. According to the book he published last year, Never Give Up, Bruschi dozed off thinking about a collision he’d had in that game with Steelers’ running back Jerome Bettis. As he slept, he clenched his fists and felt his neck tighten. When he awoke, he had a strange sensation in his left arm and leg.

He tried to fight through the numbness, believing that he had slept on his side wrong, ignoring the beginnings of a headache. In the morning, he realized he was having vision problems. Soon after, Heidi called 911 and the toughest challenge of Bruschi’s life began.

It was a stroke. A 31-year-old man in top physical condition had suffered a stroke.

“It was unsettled; I think everyone was unsettled,” Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli said this week of the days following Bruschi’s stroke. “You’re taught early in this business not to get emotionally attached or not to get too close to players, but there’s certain people — and for whatever reason, it seem like a lot of the guys we have on this team — it’s impossible not to be that way. It bothered me on a personal level. … I know Heidi and I know the kids, and it was very unsettling.”

Bruschi started the long road back to normalcy, which initially didn’t include football. It included being able to play with his boys and a nebulous front-office job with New England.

But as his vision came back and doctors saw his progress, it became OK to think about getting back on the field.

Crazy.

“There were times when I was coming back and people told me I shouldn’t. People told me, ‘You’re crazy. What are you doing? You’re a husband, you’ve got three children,’ ” Bruschi said.

Friends and family weren’t the only ones who wondered why Bruschi wanted to put the pads back on.

“You take the work ‘stroke’ and you put it with ‘football player,’ then you have to think that he’s on his second [full] season after recovering from that — that’s the crazy aspect,” said teammate Heath Evans. “But it also goes along with just the ‘mentally tough.’ ”

Pioli didn’t think it was crazy. He knew Bruschi would only be returning if it was the right thing for him, if he had Heidi’s support.

“I didn’t think he was crazy. But that’s part of the beauty of Tedy. He’s a guy that’s overcome obstacles — real obstacles — his entire life. They haven’t been fabricated stories. He’s overcome real obstacles.”

Aggressive.

Strength and conditioning coach Mike Woicik condensed the normal offseason program into an intensive six-week program for Bruschi and he continued regular checkups with his doctors. Everything was full speed ahead.

Bruschi’s first game back was Oct. 30 against Buffalo, and he had 10 tackles in the victory. It was almost as if he had never been away from the game.

But he knew how lucky he was.

“I don’t think anyone has ever said the words, ‘I played professional football again after having a stroke.’ It’s just something you wouldn’t even comprehend,” he said.

Always a fiery player, his return inspired his teammates and stroke victims across the country. The stories and letters came pouring in, and still do, three years later.

Enthusiasm.

Bruschi was in his rightful place at middle linebacker again this season, collecting 99 tackles and two sacks in the regular season and adding 15 more tackles in the postseason.

After each of the Patriots’ first 18 victories, he has played Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” in the postgame locker room, celebrating the improbable string of wins New England has tied together thus far this year.

He remains one of the hardest workers on the team, both in the meeting rooms and on the practice field.

“He doesn’t take plays off during practice, he gets into the details, he’s good in the meetings,” defensive coordinator Dean Pees said. “He leads by example. Not everybody pays full attention in the meetings or doesn’t go out and practice hard every day and that’s not Bruschi. He goes hard every day. Just such a great example for the young players.”

“Everything he went through, to be back here and at the highest levels of football, it’s amazing,” second-year linebacker Pierre Woods said. “I admire him. I call him ‘Big brother Bru.’ ”

Football player.

“Tedy’s meant so much to this organization, to this team, and really to the entire community,” Belichick said.

“But if I were open up the dictionary to ‘football player’ and see Tedy Bruschi’s picture there, that would be fitting. He’s all about football. He knows how to play. He’s very instinctive. He just always seems to do the right thing.”

There’s one more word, offered by assistant coach and former teammate Don Davis:

Miracle.

smanza@projo.com