FOXBORO — For the first time since Week 17 of last season, the Patriots had their best defensive player available on Sunday.
Cornerback Christian Gonzalez made his season debut in New England’s 42-13 rout of the Carolina Panthers after sitting out the first three games with a lingering hamstring injury.
“It was great to get out there,” Gonzalez said postgame. “Like I talked about earlier in the week, all I do and want to do is play football, so it was fun to finally get out there, get out there in a home game. The crowd was rocking, and being out there with the guys, it was a lot of fun.”
Gonzalez, a second-team All-Pro last season, suffered his injury early in training camp and missed more than seven weeks of practice. He returned in a limited capacity ahead of New England’s Week 3 matchup against Pittsburgh but was ruled out for that game, which he said made him “upset.”
A week later, Gonzalez was back in uniform for the first time in 2025, reclaiming his starting cornerback position opposite Carlton Davis III.
“Anything can be a little challenging when (you’re) not doing it for a long time,” Gonzalez said. “But at the end of the day, I’ve done this since I was 5 years old. So my mindset going into the game today was (to) not really think about how long it’s been and like that. Just go out there, be my 5-year-old self and go out there and just have fun — have that joy of just being back on the field. So that was how that went.”
Facing a Panthers receiving corps headlined by impressive 6-foot-4 rookie Tetairoa McMillan, Gonzalez allowed two catches on three targets for 31 yards in his return to action.
“Tet’s a great young player,” said Gonzalez, who recorded three tackles. “I played him in college, so I knew a little bit about him. … He went out there, and we had a good battle, and it was fun. It was needed to see game speed again. I hadn’t been out there since a long time, so it was fun to get out there with Tet and all those guys.”
Asked how long it will take him to return to peak form, Gonzalez replied: “It’s hard to just give a straight answer to that.”
“It’s tough to not play for a long time and then go out there,” he said. “… It’s little challenges. Just getting your legs under you, just getting back in that rhythm. Corner’s kind of all about rhythm; you’ve just got to get in your groove. So it is what it is, and I’m just taking it day by day.”
