Kansas City, Mo ? Priest Holmes has a candid talk with himself every Saturday night.

Does he really want to go out there Sunday and get beat up? Subject himself to so much pain and punishment he can hardly sleep?

So far, despite three major injuries and hundreds of bumps, lumps, cuts and bruises, the answer by Kansas City’s Pro Bowl running back has always been the same.

“I say, ‘Yes,’ and I go out there and play however I can,” he said.

Has it ever come close to being no?

“Never.”

Nevertheless, the discussion is serious.

After all, Holmes had a knee injury in college at Texas, and then another at his first NFL stop in Baltimore. Hip surgery just last spring put him on crutches for almost a month, testing his resolve.

It’s happened throughout his career.

Kansas City running back Priest Holmes, right, is tackled by Pittsburgh safety Brent Alexander. The Chiefs beat the Steelers, 41-20, Sunday in Kansas City, Mo., as Holmes ran for 122 yards and three touchdowns.

After a bad knee injury in college, no NFL team drafted him. So he went to Baltimore as a free agent and rushed for 1,008 yards.

The Ravens, after acquiring Jamal Lewis, decided after Holmes’ second knee injury that he could not endure the punishment. So they let him go, and he signed with Kansas City.

And the next two seasons, he led the league with 4,456 yards from scrimmage.

Now after two games — both impressive K.C. wins — Holmes has 53 touches. Only Miami’s Ricky Williams has more.

His 311 yards from scrimmage are more than anyone else but Lewis, who ran for a record 295 yards Sunday against Cleveland. Holmes’ five touchdowns tie him for the NFL lead with Buffalo’s Travis Henry.

The Chiefs are sometimes criticized for overusing him. But he always seems to get better as the game wears on.

His best run Sunday was a 31-yard fourth-quarter touchdown burst, highlighted by a move on Mike Logan that literally brought the Pittsburgh safety to his knees.

“They were hard yards,” Holmes said. “They were coming fast. Pittsburgh’s defense is always tough.”

Sometimes when he’s having that Saturday night discussion with himself, Holmes’ mind wanders to the different moods enemy tacklers might be in.

“Being a running back, I’m getting hit by all 11 players,” he said. “I never know who had an argument with their wife, whose kids were acting crazy at school. They pretty much take it out on me.”

Would opponents ever try to injure him?

“There were times when I thought maybe I could have been tackled a different way,” he said. “And I believe that I do have the bull’s-eye on my chest and teams are going to go after my legs — maybe not necessarily to hurt me, but to follow the instructions of their defensive coordinator: ‘Make sure the guy doesn’t get up.'”

Last December in Denver, he was caught from behind and dragged down awkwardly — and did not get up. After three MRIs, he underwent surgery and immediately began one more determined and successful effort to work himself back into shape.

One Saturday night, the answer is going to be “No.” But not even Holmes knows when that might be, only that it won’t be this week.

“I believe that what I have inside of me, it’s too much for anyone,” he said. “Whatever anyone tries to bring toward me, whether I’m getting hit, whether I’m getting bruised up, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to be there on Sunday.”