GRAPEVINE, Texas — Mark Sanchez ended several weeks of speculation about his injured throwing shoulder, delivering a final verdict Thursday night — no surgery.

The New York Jets quarterback, who underwent an MRI exam the day after the AFC Championship Game, said he received the news this week from Jets doctor Ken Montgomery, who consulted with shoulder specialists.

Sanchez said he was “absolutely” relieved to hear the news; the last thing he wanted was another offseason of rehabilitation. A year ago, he spent most of the offseason rehabbing from knee surgery.

“They were just really pleased with the way things have healed,” Sanchez told five reporters before a promotional appearance at a resort hotel. “The swelling and bruising type stuff is gone, so they’re really happy about that. … That’s good news.”

Sanchez is planning to have one more shoulder exam with the team doctor before March 3, the day before a possible lockout would begin. In the meantime, he said the doctors prescribed “active rest,” meaning a regimen of rehab exercises and stretching. He threw lightly earlier this week.

“[Montgomery] said it’s not going to be a sit-around-and-see-how-you-feel-in-August-type thing,” said Sanchez, relaxed and in good spirits. “I said of course not. I’m committed to the team, number one. I’ll do everything I can mentally and physically to be ready to play, and I know I will.”

Sanchez hurt his shoulder Dec. 19 at Pittsburgh, although he never missed a play. He underwent an MRI exam the following day. For the remainder of the season, the team referred to it as a “sore” shoulder.

Sanchez battled through the injury for the next five games, including three postseason starts. He admitted “it was painful, but nothing I couldn’t handle.” He was limited in practice, but he actually played well with the injury. He said he didn’t take any painkilling injections.

With a possible lockout looming, Sanchez said he will look to organize informal workouts with teammates, perhaps a reprisal of the “Jets West” camp he hosted last offseason near his home in Southern California.

Sanchez arrived in the North Texas area for a whirlwind of pre-Super Bowl activities. He admitted it was weird to be so close to the Super Bowl site after falling one game short. He issued a quasi-guarantee for 2011.

“We expect to be right where we were, and one game further,” he said, adding, “It was weird, just seeing the Super Bowl logo everywhere, seeing the Steelers’ logo. It’s like, ‘Man, we were so close.’”

Rich Cimini covers the Jets for ESPNNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP)—LaDainian Tomlinson(notes) tried for nine seasons to bring a Super Bowl title to San Diego.

There were plenty of Pro Bowls, rushing titles and enough accolades to make most players happy. Except, there was no ring. Not one trip to the Super Bowl.

“I would like one,” the New York Jets running back said of winning a championship. “To say I need one, I think that would be a bit of a stretch. But, man, I can’t imagine playing this game and not getting one.”

Tomlinson has been to one AFC championship game, three years ago, but there’s an unsatisfied feeling that gnaws at him.

“I mean, I’ve dreamed about winning a Super Bowl championship since I was 6 years old and seeing Walter Payton do it,” he said. “For me, I just can’t see not doing it.”

Jason Taylor(notes) knows exactly how Tomlinson feels. He made it to the playoffs as a rookie in 1997 and went back to the postseason the next four years. And, then, nothing. It’s been nine long years since Taylor has even been in a playoff game.

“At times, it feels like 50 years ago,” Taylor said. “Sometimes, it feels like yesterday.”

Both Tomlinson and Taylor came to New York in the offseason hoping they could be final pieces for a team that had its sights set on a Super Bowl run. The Jets want to win their first championship since 1969, while the two veterans are aching for their first ever.

“That’s the only reason I play the game anymore,” Taylor said. “Really, from Day 1. There are a lot of great byproducts from playing at a high level: You get paid and the fame and all that. But the reason we play this game is to win the championship. You can’t do that if you don’t make the playoffs, and this is the first step.”

The quest continues Saturday night when the Jets (11-5) take on the Colts (10-6) in Indianapolis.

“This is the time of the year that I look forward to,” Tomlinson said. “Anytime we have an opportunity like this, it doesn’t come around often. For me, who knows when it will come around again, or if it’ll ever come around again. We’ll see.”

Taylor was asked earlier in the week by coach Rex Ryan when he had last been to the playoffs, just to show the younger players that getting this far doesn’t always come around.

“Although a lot of them were here last year when they played in the AFC championship, it’s not a given,” Taylor said. “It really is a privilege and a very difficult thing to do. Don’t take it for granted.”

At 36 and in his 14th season, Taylor certainly doesn’t. He was out of a job after not being re-signed in the offseason by the Dolphins and made the difficult decision to join a franchise that he had grown to hate as a division rival. And Jets fans made it clear he was a villain in their eyes—until he became one of them.

He is no longer the sack machine he once was in his prime, when he was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year and a force that opposing offenses needed to plan for.

“You never know in this game,” he said. “You’re one bad injury from having to hang it up. The older you get in your career, you realize the end is getting closer and closer. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The light is coming quicker and quicker to the point where it’s not blinding yet, but you need sunglasses on. You realize the end is near.”

But, Taylor has had his moments, such as tackling Pittsburgh’s Mewelde Moore(notes) in the end zone three weeks ago—a huge play in the Jets’ 22-17 win over the Steelers. He has five sacks, ranking him third on the team, and moved into a tie with Lawrence Taylor and Leslie O’Neal for eighth on the career list with 132 1/2 .

“He provided for us everything we thought he would,” defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said.

The same could be said of Tomlinson, who had a shot at his ninth 1,000-yard rushing season, but passed up the chance in the regular-season finale against Buffalo last Sunday.

“A thousand yards, it would’ve been great, no question, but I didn’t come here to rush for 1,000 yards,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of 1,000-yard (seasons) in my career. That’s not important to me. What’s important to me is playing in this tournament and having that opportunity to win the championship.”

So, Tomlinson rested and watched from the sideline as the Jets routed the Bills, 38-7.

“I feel pretty fresh,” Tomlinson said. “I’m healthy, been healthy all year. With a week off last week, I feel even more fresh, so I’m excited and look forward to this opportunity.”

Like Taylor, the 31-year-old Tomlinson is no longer the player he once was. But, he is a major part of the Jets’ offense. Tomlinson led the team with 914 yards rushing and six touchdowns, and had 52 catches for 368 yards.

“He said that he was here to be fresh during the playoffs,” Ryan said. “He is fresh right now and I think we’re going to have a big game from him.”

There were plenty of those back in his Chargers days, a time that came to a bitter end last winter when San Diego cut him. Many around the league thought he was done and at an age when most running backs are no longer productive. The Jets saw an opportunity, as did Tomlinson. And they all hope it ends with a parade in New York.

“Green and white is what I bleed,” Tomlinson said smiling. “It would be awesome to bring a championship here. I’m just so excited.”

Soon after signing with the Jets, Santonio Holmes changed the ring tone on his cell phone to “Empire State of Mind” featuring superstar performers Alicia Keys and Jay-Z. The tribute to New York City was Holmes’ swan song to four bittersweet seasons with the Steelers.

“I’ve put all that stuff in the past back in April when it happened,” said Holmes, a Super Bowl MVP who was traded to the Jets for a fifth-round draft pick that the Steelers used to acquire cornerback Bryant McFadden. “I play for the New York Jets now. I don’t care about anything that’s going on in Pittsburgh.”

Holmes returns to Heinz Field to face his former team at 4:15 p.m. today. It’s an opportunity to heal old wounds and create new memories.

Holmes maintains he doesn’t know why he was traded a year after catching the winning touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to defeat Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII. Truth is, Holmes was traded because Steelers management tired of his off-field troubles that included a four-game suspension at the start of this season for failing the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

“If I had the answers, I’d give (them) to you,” Holmes said.

Holmes said he’s excited about facing his former teammates, particularly receiver Hines Ward, who showed Holmes how to be a pro.

“I play the game until the end of the fourth quarter,” Holmes said. “I never take any moment light in the game. I try to be physical. I try to be precise on how I run my routes. I’ve learned that from Hines over the years. It stuck with me. If you don’t have respect for that guy, I don’t know what to say.”

The feeling is mutual for Ward.

“As players, we didn’t want him to leave,” Ward said. “But it’s not our say-so. We don’t own this team.”

Being traded was emotional for Holmes, but Ward’s advice resonated.

“He always told me if you ever get a chance to get out of here, don’t hate the organization, but take advantage of the new opportunity that you’ve got,” Holmes said. “I left Pittsburgh, and now I’m taking advantage of what I have in front of me.

“I have no personal issues with any of my players, my former teammates. I got along with everybody on the team. Everybody respected me for who I was and for what I did for those guys. Business is business. That’s the part of the game that you have to learn to understand and respect.”

Jets coach Rex Ryan always respected Holmes from afar. Holmes’ big plays gave Ryan fits as Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator.

Other teams passed on Holmes, likely because of non-football issues, but Ryan focused on Holmes the player when debating whether to sign him.

“I never realized how good of a teammate he was. But since he has come here, he has been outstanding,” Ryan said. “He is building guys up here, and it’s great to have him. I just know that we couldn’t stop him when I was in Baltimore. We lost three games to Pittsburgh in (2008) … and Santonio Holmes would make one play in the game that would end up being the difference. He did it over and over, and when we had the opportunity I just thought I would love to have him because he is a difference maker.”

Holmes attributes much of his success to working with speed and conditioning coach Tom Shaw in Florida. Ryan requested a meeting with Holmes and Shaw to outline what he expected from Holmes during his suspension.

Ryan wanted Holmes training around his Jets teammates, even though he wasn’t permitted to join practice while suspended.

“Rex said he wanted to make sure Santonio is ready to go on the first snap of Game 5,” said Shaw, who spent all four weeks with Holmes in New York. “He said he’s got to be able to take charge and get in there when they need him. We got everything done that we needed to get done. It was good for him to be up there because the guys saw he was there. He’s just not a guy that’s going to come in and take my job. He was working as hard as they were. He wasn’t trying to get out of anything.”

Holmes is third on the team in receiving with 41 catches and ranks second with four touchdown receptions — three coming on late game-winners on consecutive weeks against Detroit, Cleveland and Houston.

Shaw knows Holmes as well as anyone. Holmes trains with Shaw in the offseason and even bought a home in Orlando so he can be closer to Shaw. Since the trade, the normally reclusive Holmes has opened up around Ryan, just as he does with Shaw.

“The day after he signed with the Jets, ‘Tone’ changed the ring tone on his cell phone,” Shaw said. “When he got a chance to meet Rex Ryan, he knew he was all in. He felt like the guy believed in him enough — and gave him an opportunity — to prove he could play in the NFL. He really feels loyal to Rex Ryan. He’s starting to mature. He’s growing up.”

Holmes took what he learned in Pittsburgh and shared it with his new teammates, starting with second-year quarterback Mark Sanchez, who has struggled during New York’s two-game losing streak and nearly was benched during last week’s home loss against Miami.

“It’s going to take a little time for us,” Holmes said. “Maybe this offseason. Maybe these next three games. Maybe throughout the playoffs. My thing is to keep him upbeat and not allow him to get down on himself because of the way he’s been playing recently.

“It’s a different group of guys,” Holmes said of the Jets. “I built a rapport with guys four years ago, and I understood them. Now it’s trying to be a leader to a group of guys who haven’t really been there. I was with a bunch of guys that (were) been-there-done-that type of guys. Defensive player of the year guys. Super Bowl MVP guys. Two-time Super Bowl champion defensive players that very rarely gave up big plays. Now you get with the Jets, and you’re trying to find out who those guys are on the team. You try to build a rapport with them, and you let them know how you see the game and what they can use to their advantage.”

Holmes knows he’ll be forever linked with the Steelers because of his 6-yard touchdown catch in the closing seconds of Super Bowl XLIII.

“That catch will definitely go down in history,” Holmes said. “History is history. You can’t repeat it. You can only try to out-do it. That’s my goal.”