Surf's up - and so is Seau's semiretirement

Junior Seau said only one man could lure him back into uniform - Patriots coach Bill Belichick. That's what happened. (Bill Greene/Globe Staff)

FOXBOROUGH - The conversation Wednesday afternoon between Bill Belichick and Junior Seau was short. The coach called the linebacker and told him he needed help. Seau made a quick, easy decision. He called back Belichick - the only coach Seau, 39, would play for - and told him he was coming. Seau boarded a plane in California that evening.

"It was done," Belichick said. "He went from the surfboard to the football field. He can probably make the transition better than any player that's ever played."

A deep, mutual affection brought Seau back to the Patriots yesterday, a move made necessary and possible when they placed Adalius Thomas on injured reserve, meaning his broken right forearm will sideline him for the remainder of the year.

The Patriots this week had already lured one linebacker from last year's team, Rosevelt Colvin, out of semiretirement. With the realization Thomas will no longer be a part of the season, Belichick turned to Seau, who, like Colvin, gave up the leisure of life without football for his old team.

"What it took was a coach that you respect made a call to come out, help guys that you have a lot of love for," Seau said. "It wasn't a hard decision. You just care for the guys in this locker room and you care for the coach and the organization. And that's the only reason why I'm here. There was only one team that I would play for."

Seau had been living in California, moving his life "into a different mode" after 18 seasons in the NFL, he said. He took his daughter to volleyball practice and watched his son play football. He surfed. For the first time in nearly two decades, he decided what to do with his time; no one told him what meetings to attend or what time practice was. He didn't realize a day had so many hours, he said.

"I'm still brushing off the wax from the surfboard," Seau said. "I've got a pretty good tan. I think I'll be losing that in the next two to three weeks."

Seau accepted his sudden and drastic lifestyle change in stride. He flew across country Thursday. He practiced with the Patriots yesterday, then flew back to the West Coast with the team for the game against the Seahawks tomorrow.

"I have no time to get all drama," Seau said. "I just don't. I don't want to go Oprah on you. I was cutting up oranges for a cooler for [daughter] Sydney Baul Seau. And now I'm here putting on cleats. That's life. You have to make an adjustment, and make it quick."

Belichick beckoned Seau for that precise reason. He spoke of Seau with what is for him a rare effusiveness, grinning when he said the words "passion" and "enthusiasm." Belichick feels lucky to have coached Seau, and he showed appreciation for Seau's willingness to rejoin his team.

"That's part of the whole makeup of Junior that's so phenomenal," Belichick said. "He's ready to play football. He's a football player. You know, you look 'football player' up in the dictionary - Junior Seau, Troy Brown, those are the guys, they just define it, in every sense of the word. You could go on and on. Just about everything he does is exemplary.

"I think Junior is good for your football team any time of year. He's just good for your football team, period. He's a good player. He's a good person. He loves the game. I think that enthusiasm and passion carries over to everybody who is around him. Players, coaches, other people in the organization. He's a special guy and a special player. It's pretty remarkable what he's doing."

Without Thomas, the Patriots need him. Thomas broke his right forearm Nov. 9 in a game against the Bills and has not played or practiced since. The Patriots did not initially place him on injured reserve in the hope he would return this season, but this week brought an urgency that prevented New England from waiting any longer. Reserves Pierre Woods and Vince Redd have not practiced all week because of jaw and ankle injuries, respectively.

"We wanted to monitor the situation and get all the information and take it for as long as we could," Belichick said. "We felt like, at this point, we needed an extra player on the team. It was probably a long shot with [Thomas], anyway. But we couldn't keep it open much longer."

And so Seau is back. He never turned in his retirement papers to the league office - "I didn't think the NFL wanted to hear another retirement speech," Seau said - but he never seriously considered playing this year, either.

Then Belichick called, and the memories - "the journey," Seau said - of the past two seasons came rushing back. Seau spent his first 13 seasons with the Chargers, but he identifies himself now as a Patriot because of the connection he struck with Belichick and his teammates here.

"You can't just erase it," Seau said. "It was real.

"[Belichick] called me up and said he needed some help. Well, I'm here. Let's see what we can do."

Adam Kilgore can be reached at akilgore@globe.com