KIRKLAND — After 10-½ years as an NFL couple, Chad and Kristin Brown can only laugh.

What else is there to do after all of these years and all of these injuries? And yet Chad continues to fight through the pain and soreness, show up for as many practices as his surgically repaired legs will allow and, most important, play at a high level.

"We love this crazy game, because it's — crazy," Brown said, pausing for effect. "This is my job, but it's absolutely crazy. I'm out playing eight weeks after I break my leg and have 12 screws put in. I play on a Sunday when I have surgery scheduled on Monday. It's crazy, but I love it."

It's playoff time, and Brown lives for this. That's why the Seahawks wouldn't take no for an answer when they signed the outside linebacker in 1997. Brown had played in nine postseason games and started seven before the Seahawks went to Green Bay for the wild-card round last January, and he even had three sacks in a wild-card game with the Steelers against the Indianapolis Colts in 1996.

But misfortune struck on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field on the first play of the second quarter. Brown, attempting to stop Packers running back Ahman Green on a running play, got his right ankle caught in the grass. He left the game, and couldn't return.

First came denial. Then disbelief.

"I knew it was serious on the field, but then you try and tough it out, basically," Brown said. "Maybe it's not so bad. We got the X-rays, nothing's broken.

His voice dropped.

"I couldn't walk. So there's no way I could play. I didn't want to go out there and hurt my team."

Remembering the moment was painful in itself. Which is just another reason Brown, 34 years old and closer to retirement than his prime, wants to win in the worst way.

"It's probably the first time I have talked about it without getting choked up," Brown said.

He spent all of 2003 trying to overcome a broken foot he suffered the season before. He missed practice time and two games. And that was just last year.

"Then finally towards the end of the season, (I) get on a roll as a player," Brown said. "I had two sacks the week before against the Niners. I had the tackle for loss on the play I got hurt (against the Packers). I was feeling pretty good about how I was playing that game."

The injury made Brown feel that he let his teammates down, though he had no control over being hurt.

"I took all the reps in practice. I was prepared to play, and now I can't play and someone else has to play in my spot. You let your teammates down when that happens. In a close game, I could have helped in some way."

Since then, Brown hasn't been able to avoid injury. He broke a bone in his leg during training camp and sat out the first six games of the season. On Nov. 21, knowing he was to have knee surgery the next day, Brown made three tackles against the Miami Dolphins. Then he missed the next three games.

"He's got more metal in his body than 10 people," coach Mike Holmgren said.

But Brown couldn't be denied, even when he failed to log a statistic in the Seahawks' playoff-clinching win over Arizona on Dec. 26.

Brown finished the season with a blaze of glory against Atlanta. He flew all over the field as if it were the 1990s again, taking part in 11 tackles, including a sack and forced fumble.

"You turn on the film from Sunday, and he's just throwing his body around," said linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski. "He just has no regard for his body, and that's something special for especially the young guys to see. Someone who's been through that much, and he's been maligned the last couple of years. That's what you need. He knows you can't really think about your body when you're trying to win games."

Said D.D. Lewis, the man who replaced Brown in Green Bay that day in January: "Sometimes you have to play through pain. Sometimes you have to just show your toughness. Like last game, he played lights-out. He's a warrior. He's going to battle through and get the job done."

Tomorrow, the warrior will strap on the pads and helmet and gut it out yet again, knowing that feeling 100 percent is just a dream. He'll come off the edges on a speed rush and chase Rams running backs and tight ends. He'll try to set the tone for a young defense that needs his leadership and presence in more ways than can be counted.

"Every game means more to me," said Brown, who has no plans to retire after this season. "That same feeling goes to the playoffs, because not only is it special that you're in the playoffs, but we could do something, and more important, I could do something to help this team win."

And winning makes it easier to laugh. Which is exactly what Brown did when asked if he feels like an inspiration to teammates.

"If I am, then that's great. But I'm not sucking it up to inspire my teammates. I'm sucking it up because I love to play this game, and I want to play," he said, then added a little sarcasm to finish the thought. "So my motives are purely selfish."

José Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com