Kansas City, Mo. ? Priest Holmes says he’ll undergo two more tests on his neck and spine and then decide whether to resume his record-setting NFL career next year.

In his first public comments since going on injured reserve, the three-time Pro Bowl running back and holder of the NFL’s single-season touchdown mark also disputed a report he had a lump on his spine.

“I do not,” he said Thursday.

He said if the two tests show encouraging results, he will rejoin the Chiefs next year and continue a career that has already made him the team’s all-time leading rusher.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he said.

“Pounding is just a part of football. But I love this sport and it’s really been very good to me. I’m not one to look 20 or 30 years down the road. I really look at the next two, three, five years. I really see myself playing, hoping the situation with the tests I take in the next 60 days comes back positive. Regardless of that, I still have to sit down and make a decision.”

Holmes went on injured reserve Nov. 9 with head and neck trauma. He saw specialists in California and Florida after sustaining a concussion Oct. 30 and was told to avoid contact for at least 30 days.

He said there will be more tests in the next few months, and he hopes to return to football. His 27 touchdowns in 2003 are a single-season record and the 66 touchdowns he scored from 2002-04 are the most in any three-year period.

“In the next 60 days I’ll be taking two more tests,” he said. “And with those tests I believe the right information will be put on the table for me to sit down with my family and decide exactly what I am going to do.”

The 32-year-old running back said he drank in the atmosphere surrounding the game against Oakland on Nov. 6, the first one he missed after his injury, and told teammate Larry Johnson that he recognized why he loved the game.

“I told L.J. that I realize how important football is to me, and it really wasn’t about the paycheck. It really wasn’t about the camera time. It was about the fans and just the experience of going down Arrowhead Drive and knowing I was a part of that.”

The injury, which he described as a pressure on his spine, has never been painful and is not necessarily a threat to cause paralysis, he said.

“The main concern was that (doctors) wanted to know if there was pressure on the spine,” he said. “If there’s pressure on the spine, of course if you’re hit there’s a number of things that could possibly happen. Would those things happen to me? It hasn’t happened yet.

“So I’m very, very confident about the recovery time and the number of things I have to go through.”

Retirement, if that is deemed the most prudent action, would not be difficult, Holmes said.

“It won’t be hard, if the results are not positive, but negative … one that a number of people wouldn’t want to hear, I think (retirement) would be great. The reason I say that is because I’m so confident in terms of the things I’ve been set on this Earth to do. There’s a number of people I will continue to affect. There’s a number of people I will be able to continue to help.

“I’m very confident the (test) results will be the results that I want.”