Junior Seau plays with passion. “I’ve always loved this game,” he says. “I love it as much now as I did my rookie year.”

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

PHOENIX — Junior Seau has achieved almost every individual honor that a linebacker can achieve in the NFL.

He was selected to 12 consecutive Pro Bowls, from 1991-2002. He was a seven-time All-Pro selection and he is a member of the NFL’s 1990’s All-Decade team.

What he is missing, and what he wants more than anything, is a Super Bowl ring. He will have a chance to obtain that tomorrow in Super Bowl XLII when the Patriots battle the Giants.

“I’m embracing this,” said Seau, an 18-year NFL veteran. “It’s like embracing something when you know it’s going to leave and you’ll just do anything for. That’s what I’m doing every day.”

You can tell how passionate he is about his quest for a Super Bowl ring by his passion and excitement on the field. It’s second to none.

“I think that a guy that plays that long and plays with the kind of passion that he plays with every week, and every day for that matter — he comes in with that kind of attitude every day, that’s why he is the player that he is now and he has had a great career,” Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel said.

Seau is 39 years old, which is ancient in terms of a football linebacker, but he certainly isn’t playing like an old man.

He registered 76 tackles during the regular season with 3½ sacks and a career-high three interceptions, and he added a combined 16 tackles and a sack in the Patriots’ two playoff games.

“Junior has been a great addition to our football team,” New England coach Bill Belichick said. “He brings a wealth of experience and energy. He brings outstanding play… Junior has been great. He has given us a good level of play in both our regular and sub-defense. He is a very experienced guy, I’m sure a Hall of Fame player, and it has been an honor to coach him.”

Seau never imagined that it would take 13 years for him to reach the Super Bowl again after playing in it in 1995 with the Chargers. The Chargers lost, 49-26, to the 49ers in that game.

“When you’re young, you think you’re always going to have an opportunity,” Seau said. “When I look back 181 games ago, I would never have thought it would be this long.”

Seau played in only one playoff game after that, and that happened in the following season. Seau left San Diego for Miami in 2002 where he spent three years before retiring. At the time, he vowed to put more energy into his charitable foundation, The Junior Seau Foundation, which is one of the largest and most successful foundations established by a professional athlete, ranking 13th among such foundations according to a 2007 Wall Street Journal report. He also wanted to devote time to his eatery, The Restaurant, a popular spot in San Diego.

His retirement only lasted four days, however.

The Patriots signed him later that week to replace Willie McGinest, who had signed with the Browns. They also needed a linebacker because Tedy Bruschi was hurt.

“When I first came here to New England, when I first got the call from Belichick, he called me and his words were this: ‘I have a position for you,’ ” Seau said. “Other teams were saying they would love for me to be on their team, but that gave me a clue to mean they wanted me, but didn’t really need me. Belichick called two weeks before the season and he said, one-on-one, ‘I have a position for you,’ and it changed my life.”

Seau signed a one-year deal because he knew that he would have a chance to win a Super Bowl title with the Patriots.

Seau recorded 70 tackles in 2006 before suffering a broken arm, ending his season. Belichick invited Seau back for another season and Seau jumped at the opportunity.

Seau said that it will be hard for him to leave the game of football.

“I’ve always loved this game,” Seau said. “I love it as much now as I did my rookie year. I couldn’t love it any more than I do. I believe I was born to be a football player and I’m going to hold onto it until the day comes where I can’t anymore. It’s definitely a blessing to be here and to be with this group of guys. I’ve got an exceptional group of guys to be around in this locker room, and it’s a bond that will carry on forever.”

Seau said that he wants to leave the game on his own terms.

“In the game of football it’s hard to deal with because there are a lot of elements that factor in,” Seau said. “Obviously, number one, is your health. There are a lot of guys who would love to still be playing and they have the mindset and the mental wherewithal but their health gives out. That’s when the game is taken away. My advice to anyone here is that the game can be taken away from you in one play, whether you are a rookie or an 18-year veteran, so never take the game for granted.”

Seau said that he is going to cherish every moment of the Super Bowl when he takes the field tomorrow. His teammate and longtime friend Rodney Harrison said that helping Seau win a Super Bowl title would mean a lot to him.

“The way that he has endured and persevered, it has just been a tremendous story, and we need to go ahead and finish it off on Sunday and make that story even sweeter.”

roblee@projo.com