Holmgren will return for one more season

Mike Holmgren will return for a final season as coach of the Seattle Seahawks -- but only a final season.

The 59-year-old veteran of 16 seasons as an NFL head coach announced his decision Tuesday to fulfill the final year of his contract, after spending the weekend with his wife at their off-season Arizona home.

"Kathy and I came to this decision to finish my contract," said Holmgren, who had hinted at retirement for weeks. "This will be my last year. We are going to make it the best year ever.

"And then probably after that, I will take a little time off -- but not yet. We are going to go after it hard."

Two days after Seattle lost at Green Bay in the NFC divisional playoffs, Holmgren was asked if there was a third possibility beyond retiring or finishing the final season of his contract. He signed that extension soon after the Seahawks lost in the Super Bowl to Pittsburgh 23 months ago, at the end of a deal that was paying him about $7 million per season.

Holmgren said yes to the the "longer, larger" option of another contract extension beyond 2008, but the Seahawks have never approached him about it.

Tuesday, Holmgren said his comments about an extension were overblown and "misinterpreted," that the decision was always about working one more season or retiring.

The Seahawks have a likely heir to Holmgren in place in Jim Mora.

Soon after Mora was fired as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons on New Year's Day, 2007, Holmgren added him to the staff as the assistant head coach and defensive backs coach. Mora, 46, led Atlanta for three seasons and went to the NFC championship game in his first season there.

T.O. will be return to Cowboys: Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones plans to pay Terrell Owens' $3 million roster bonus, which means the All-Pro wide receiver will be back for the final season of his three-year, $25 million contract.

Jones said a contract extension for Owens is something he would consider "down the line."

Owens finished with 81 catches for 1,355 yards and a team-record 15 touchdown receptions.

Gruden given extension: Coach Jon Gruden was rewarded Tuesday for Tampa Bay's worst-to-first turnaround in the NFC South with a three-year contract extension that runs through the 2011 season.

General manager Bruce Allen also was given a three-year extension, keeping him under contract for another four seasons.

Springs' wife sues: The wife of former Dallas Cowboys running back Ron Springs is suing two doctors she accuses of letting her husband slip into a coma last October, just months after a new kidney donated by ex-teammate Everson Walls appeared to save his life.

The medical malpractice lawsuit filed Tuesday in state district court by Adriane Springs seeks unspecified damages and describes Springs as being non-responsive and incapacitated.

Adriane Springs said her husband has brain damage and didn't know if he would recover.

"My husband was doing so well after the kidney transplant," she said. "This is just a very tragic outcome."

Ratings surge: The NFC title game drew a 29.0 national rating and 43 share on Fox. The New York Giants' 23-20 overtime win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night attracted the highest rating for a conference championship since Green Bay-Carolina earned a 30.1/58 in 1997.

The undefeated New England Patriots' 21-12 win over the heavy underdog San Diego Chargers drew a 25.7/46 on CBS. That was up 2 percent from the early game last year, the Bears-New Orleans NFC championship that attracted a 25.1/45.

Extra points: Jim Fassel has become a top candidate for the Washington Redskins coaching job after a third interview with owner Dan Snyder. The former New York Giants coach met with Snyder on Monday, according to a person familiar with the selection process. … Hall of Famer James Lofton was fired as wide receivers coach by the San Diego Chargers, who also released running backs coach Matt Simon. … Former Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Rien Long was in critical condition after he crashed his sports car into a rock wall while driving onto an interstate. Nashville police said Long, 26, was driving too fast down an on-ramp to Interstate 40 near downtown just before midnight Monday. The Titans drafted Long in the fourth round in 2003. He was placed on injured reserve for 2007 with a knee injury before being waived.