Kansas City, Mo. ? Despite a knee injury that ended his season, Priest Holmes says he is “definitely 100 percent” planning to be back for 2005.

“In terms of next year, I’m excited because of the fact that it gives me an opportunity to heal up and start preparing for the 2005 season,” Kansas City’s standout running back said Friday, a day after the Chiefs put him on injured reserve.

“There are a lot of things we need to do. We left a lot of things on the table this year,” Holmes said. “We’re still playing, we’re still in it in terms of winning some games and making sure we end the season the right way. But the 2005 season is going to be exciting because we know that there’s a valuable lesson that we learned this year — and that is that when you start having guys go down, it makes it really difficult to win ball games.”

Holmes, 31, was leading the NFL in rushing and scoring when he strained ligaments in his right knee at Tampa Bay on Nov. 7.

At first he thought he would be able to get back this year. But healing was slow, and since the Chiefs (4-8) are out of the playoff hunt, it was decided to shut him down for the rest of the season.

“The injury just gave me an opportunity to rest up and to get the body 100 percent,” he said.

This is the third time injury has cut a season short for Holmes, who set an NFL record in 2003 with 27 touchdowns.