HOUSTON -- Houston Texans safety Leomont Evans was back in Texas on Wednesday, walking and hoping a collision that bruised his spinal cord in the Hall of Fame game Monday night won't end his career.

Evans told reporters Wednesday at Methodist Hospital, where he was being held overnight for more evaluations, that he wants to return to the field at some point if he gets clearance.

"If everything's fine, I'll be out there,'' said Evans. The Texans safety said he's physically 100 percent except for persisting pain radiating down from his neck.

Evans was released from a Canton, Ohio hospital Wednesday morning.

He was injured while rushing a punt in the second quarter of the NFL debut of the expansion Texans. The Texans lost 34-17 to the New York Giants.

After crossing the line of scrimmage, Evans lowered his helmet and drove it into the chest of Giants running back Sean Bennett, who was blocking on the play. Evans dropped to the artificial turf and lost feeling in his arms and legs, which he didn't regain until he had been carted off the field and rushed to a nearby hospital.

"Compared to Monday, I'm feeling really good today,'' Evans said. "It was just a play like any other play. After watching it, I saw my head was down. I bent my neck a little bit and that's about all I remember. Next thing I know I was in the emergency room.''

Evans said he couldn't talk, had trouble seeing and was disoriented when he was lying motionless.

"I was scared and then again I wasn't, because I was breathing and I could see a little bit, but I couldn't move,'' said Evans. "It was a bad thing, but there were some good things going on.''

Evans, 28, prayed and thought about whether he'd again get to play with his three young children. He said his kids, along with wife Felicia, will be foremost in the decision-making process about whether to continue vying for a spot on the Texans.

"If something's wrong, I'm definitely not going to chance it again,'' he said.

Doctors will examine Evans to check the bruise and determine the extent of the injury, said Dr. Jim Muntz. Neurologists also will measure the size of Evans' spinal canal, which could make him susceptible to such episodes if it's unusually narrow.

Then again, Muntz said the bruise could be a one-in-a-million freak accident that Evans isn't any more prone to repeating than any other healthy football player.

As for his wife, Felicia Evans agreed football remains in the picture.

"That's a judgment call. If the doctors say OK and he wants to do it, then I'm behind him,'' she said. "We're just praying he makes the right decision.''

Current Texans general manager Charley Casserly, then with the Washington Redskins, drafted Evans out of Clemson in the fifth round of the 1995 draft. He started all 16 games for Washington in 1999 before leaving for the Detroit Lions, but didn't make it out of the 2000 training camp.

He played for the Los Angeles Xtreme of the ill-fated XFL last year and signed with Houston last December.