That is true, but I think he was also looking at retirement the year before. He had his big 40th birthday party blow out, and I think the plan/expectation was to go to the Super Bowl and then ride off (I think that was definitely the vibe at the time).
But then the no call happened, and there was no way he wanted that to be how it ended, so he came back for one more year...and then one more after that.