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FOXBORO - Even the world's oldest teenager acts his age from time to time.

"You know," linebacker Junior Seau said Wednesday, "everyone asks, 'are you eager, are you excited?' I'm too old to be excited. Can I say that? I am. I'm too old to jump up for joy. I know that the only way this is all going to be exciting to anyone if it works."

At 40 years of age, Seau still has the strength and stamina to attempt to play professional football at a high level. So it was that for the fourth time since 2006, the 12-time Pro Bowl participant and future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame heeded the call of Patriots' coach Bill Belichick to lend his spirit and his intensity to the cause.

"I lean on Bill Belichick," Seau said at a Gillette Stadium press conference announcing a return that everyone knew would happen since July. "And the reason why I say that is that Bill doesn't kick around tires and say, 'I'm just going to go and grab a guy that's 40 years old, off the surfboard, and say to come join us.' He has a plan.

"His plan is something that we're going to try and implement, whatever it may be," he continued. "He knows who I am. I know what he has to offer. I trust Bill. Because I trust Bill, I'm here today. What am I going to do? How am I going to help the team? You know, I can't forecast that just give me a helmet, I guarantee you I'm going to be the best player that I can be today and we'll build from there." Seau had been telling anyone who'd listen since early in the summer that he'd consider a return to the Patriots (and only the Patriots) late in the season if needed. But apparently, that need arose sooner than anyone anticipated.

Whether it was the trades that removed Mike Vrabel and Richard Seymour from the mix or the retirements of Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi, the Patriots' defense has been a sleek new ship, younger and faster, but with an inadequate rudder. It needs guidance and direction - not just from the coaching staff, but from someone down in the trenches who can lead by example even if he's not playing 60 snaps a game.

"Junior has a great approach to football," Belichick said Wednesday. "He's got a lot of energy. He has a lot of enthusiasm for the game. I haven't coached too many (players) that are any more passionate than Junior is. So I think that's good for all of us. It's good for him, it's good for all the players, it's good for the coaches, it's good for the team."

The trust and admiration shared by the player and the coach are why he would even consider leaving his son's football games, his daughter's volleyball games and the California surf behind.

"I know the system," Seau said. "I trust the coach and the ownership and the coaches in this organization and I have a lot of love for the players in the locker room. That's the reason why I wanted to come back to only one team. It has nothing to do with the San Diego Chargers being a hometown team. I wouldn't be able to give the San Diego Chargers what they need because I don't know the locker room. There's so many things that I don't know, that are so unknown, to give me a chance to help them perform at a high level and I trust this coach, Bill Belichick."

Seau candidly admitted that had the Patriots beaten the Giants in Super Bowl XLII two years ago, a season in which he played 19 games at age 38, he probably would not be as willing to answer Belichick's call.

"If I had a ring in place, I would probably think otherwise," he said. "There are so many things that evolve to the decision that I made to coming back.

"It's a new day, a new challenge," he said. "The ultimate goal is what? To win a ring. That's the ultimate goal. Are we? No, we don't know that. That's part of a forecast. Everyone should have that goal, but whatever has happened in the past, whether it's good or bad, what you have to do in this league, one thing you have to do in this league is have short-term memory. When you're good, cut it off, real quick. Next day there's a different challenge. You do bad, you do the same thing."

When quarterback Tom Brady entered the Gillette Stadium weight room around 6:45 Wednesday morning, he found Seau already in the weight room with a good sweat well in progress.

"He hasn't changed at all," Brady said. "He brings a lot of energy to the team and excitement. Attitude is everything with Junior. He's a great professional and he shows great leadership. And he's a playmaker. He's a guy that, there's only one of him. There's only one of him that's ever played and I'm glad he's back on the team." Seau temporarily left a new job to return to the Patriots - host of the Versus network's "Sports Jobs with Junior Seau," in which he takes behind-the-scenes jobs in the world of sports "to give some love" to those who labor without the glory. Included in the show (to debut Dec. 2) was a stint as a rodeo clown, in which he had a too-close encounter with a 2,000-pound bull.

"Being in that ring, in the rest of the ring with the bullfighters and bull riders - what they do every day, stepping in between the rider, you're stepping in between a rider and a 2,000-pound bull those are men," Seau said. "I have a great respect for them. That had nothing to do with show biz. That was real. I have the bruises to show you."

It's widely presumed that Seau is here for the primary purposes of providing depth and tutelage to two potentially outstanding inside linebackers in Jerod Mayo and Gary Guyton.

"Jerod Mayo, the sky's the limit for the kid," he said. "He's the leader on this defense and Guyton's doing a heck of a job in the middle. We have two great linebackers up and coming."

Asked how he could help the younger linebackers, or how he could help the team, Seau's answer was the same.

"Just give me a helmet and let me work," he said.

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.