Favre, Holmgren discuss QB's previous retirements on radio

Brett Favre no longer appears to be interested in putting a timetable on when his career is going to end. The Vikings quarterback -- who has retired during each of the past two offseasons, only to return before the next season started -- danced around the topic when asked about it by his longtime coach in Green Bay, Mike Holmgren.

Holmgren, who serves as one of the hosts of "The NFL Show" on KJR Radio in Seattle, had Favre on his program Friday. "You have told me four different times you have retired," said Holmgren, who coached Favre from 1992 to '98 and won a Super Bowl with him in '96. "I have four plasma television sets that I have bought for you that are in my garage. What do I do with them and can I finally send them to you? Now, is this going to be it?"

Favre, who turned 40 on Saturday, responded with an "Oh, boy," before giving his answer.

"As I told you those two years, 'This would be it, Mike,'" Favre said. "One was in Green Bay and last year obviously with New York. I thought I was sincere as I could possibly be. At some point it's got to end, and the thing is you never know unless you make that decision one way or the other.

"But so far I'm glad I'm here, it's been fun, a good group of guys. I know you are ultimately judged on how you play, and I'd love to play the next 12 games like I played these [first] four. I'd love to stay physically in a place where I could make those plays. It's going to be based off of that and I'm just going to try to take it practice by practice and game by game."

Favre and Holmgren also discussed the advice the quarterback sought from his former coach before making the decision to join the Packers' archrival in August. Holmgren admitted it wasn't easy for him, because he has friends with both the Vikings and Packers. Favre also discussed his emotions before his three-touchdown performance against the Packers on Oct. 5.

"I have to admit when I went out for pregame, it was a Super Bowl-type atmosphere and it was crazy," Favre said in an interview streamed by the website Sportsradiointerviews.com. "I was probably more nervous than anyone in the building that I would screw it up because of how I felt.

"It was every bit as emotional or exciting as the Super Bowl. I know it is not the same game, but it carries a lot of meaning in a lot of ways. No one was more pleased to play the game out than me just based on how I felt prior to it."

The Hennepin County District Court trial for Kevin and Pat Williams is set for March 8 before Judge Gary Larson. The two Vikings star defensive linemen are contesting their four-game suspensions for taking a banned substance, bumetanide, an unlisted ingredient in the diet supplement StarCaps.

The NFL is vigorously defending its drug policy and also has asked the entire 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear their case. A three-judge panel already unanimously decided the matter belongs in state court.

The next hearing on the Williams matter is set for 7:30 a.m. Oct. 26 in front of Larson. Briefs are due Oct. 19 on a request for a protective order. It wasn't known who wants to seal what part of the case file. A pretrial settlement conference is set for 8 a.m. on March 1 in front of Larson.

• Rookie right tackle Phil Loadholt, who missed Sunday's 38-10 victory at St. Louis because of an injured left ankle, said he "definitely" expects to practice Wednesday when the Vikings start preparations for Sunday's game against Baltimore.

• Punt returner Darius Reynaud was expected to rejoin the Vikings on Monday after missing a week to tend to a family issue.