Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour, seen here running against the Rams last week, says he’s playing better today than when he garnered five consecutive Pro Bowls and never lost confidence in himself.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

FOXBORO — Some NFL players don’t like to play injured. They know that there is a good chance that they will be embarrassed if they suit up and play when they are not 100 percent.

New England five-time Pro Bowl defensive end Richard Seymour is not one of those athletes. If he feels there is a chance that he can help the Patriots win a game, even if he is a little banged up, he will sacrifice his body to help even if that means getting beat on a play or two. That’s why Seymour competed for two plus seasons with lingering knee and elbow injuries, from October 2005, when he first injured his left knee while blocking at the goal line for Corey Dillon, through the end of last season.

Seymour injured his elbow in October 2006, but he did not miss a game that season. He underwent surgery to clean up the knee at the end of the 2006-07 season, but the rehab didn’t go as planned, and Seymour didn’t get back onto the field last year until Week Eight against Washington. He had a career-low 23 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks, breaking a string of five straight Pro Bowl appearances last season. He played through a lot of pain from October 2005 through the end of last season, which prevented him from improving his game, but he is back playing at a Pro Bowl level.

“He is a heck of a player,” St. Louis Rams coach Jim Haslett said. “That kid wants to play. He is hard to block. It doesn’t make a difference who is on him. He is one of the better ones in the league.”

Seymour recorded seven solo tackles and wreaked havoc at the line of scrimmage, registering four quarterback hits last week against St. Louis. He was nominated for the AFC defensive player of the week award for his impressive outing, and if he keeps playing at that level, he could be nominated for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.

When Seymour was struggling to overcome his knee problems last season, he said the mental pain from being criticized in the media for not playing as well as he had in the past, even though he was hurt felt just as bad as the physical pain he was enduring. “That was really the most difficult thing, when you’re out there you’re being criticized as if you are 100 percent and you’re really not,” Seymour said this week on Boston’s Sports Radio Network WEEI.

“That was one of the toughest things to deal with. I fought through it and like I said, I kept my head and everything else away from the foolishness and the nonsense. The people that were in my corner, my wife at home, etc., and those close to me always had confidence in me and I had confidence in myself. It was just a learning experience really. That’s what I take it as.”

Seymour entered training camp 10 pounds lighter with a clean bill of health because he was able to participate in the Patriots offseason training schedule.

“You know, it feels good to come out here and not have to worry about running across the field; just getting over that hurdle,” Seymour during training camp. “Obviously, as a football player, your most important deal is your health. If you can’t be healthy, then you can’t contribute like you want to on the football field. It’s been tough, but right now I’m excited just to be back out here with my teammates.”

Seymour, who has 24 tackles and four sacks this season, said he never lost confidence in himself throughout his two-plus years of injuries and rehabs.

“I was still confident in my abilities when I got healthy because everything else felt good,” Seymour said. “I could still move around. I could lift weights. I could do other things but I just wasn’t able to really run off the ball … to get in a stance and be able to explode off of the ball and take on guys, shed blockers and change direction from a down position. [Those were some] of the most difficult things to do coming from the [knee] injury that I had.”

He said he was a better player today than he was when he had his string of five consecutive Pro Bowls. “I think in life you go through different obstacles to really make you better and make you stronger,” Seymour said. “Sometimes if you want to be better, you have to go through some things, some down moments in order to really appreciate and really get the full benefit and to maximize your opportunities when they come.

“So for me, being down and being hurt, I was still able to get the mental side of the game and still able watch other parts of my game, and now that I’m healthy, I am able to put all of that together and I feel like I’m a better player now than even before I got hurt.”

roblee@projo.com