FOXBOROUGH – Christian Gonzalez is set to return to the Patriots lineup this weekend against the Carolina Panthers.

After missing the first three games and most of training camp due to a nagging hamstring injury, the Patriots cornerback fired back at people questioning his desire to play. Gonzalez returned to practice last week, but the team downgraded him to out one day before the Patriots took on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On Wednesday, Gonzalez said he wanted to play on Sunday and pushed back at anyone suggesting he didn’t.

“I never don’t want to play. That narrative that’s out there, I don’t know where people get it from,” Gonzalez said. “I mean, all I want to do is play football, so we talked about it and came up to a decision, and that’s what it is.”

Before he spoke in the Pa

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