National football league News & notes

Jets: Rex Ryan wanted Vikings quarterback Brett Favre flinging passes as his quarterback. The Jets coach said Monday for the first time that he would have tried to bring Favre out of retirement last year to play another season in New York if the team hadn’t drafted Mark Sanchez. “There would have been some major recruiting done,” Ryan said. “I can say that absolutely. And, maybe no one knows it or whatever, but I can promise you that’s how I was feeling.” Favre briefly retired after playing with New York in 2008, when he injured his shoulder down the stretch and slumped. The Jets missed the playoffs after an 8-3 start, and it cost coach Eric Mangini his job. After Ryan was hired as coach, he hoped Favre would stick around — despite the quarterback’s late-season struggles.

Ravens: The last seconds of Baltimore’s win against Pittsburgh is a microcosm of how the Ravens have played this season. Down 14-10 with 55 seconds left to the Steelers, Baltimore needed to go 40 yards without any timeouts. Quarterback Joe Flacco led Baltimore downfield before throwing an 18-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Houshmandzadeh for a 17-14 victory. “It was one of the greatest wins we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Flacco said Monday. The dramatics capped a four-game stretch in which the Ravens played three of their first four games on the road, beat the Steelers and New York Jets, and tied that left the Baltimore tied for the lead in the AFC North.

49ers: Mike Singletary isn’t worried about his job security following the San Francisco 49ers’ 0-4 start. In fact, he says it’s the furthest thing from his mind. Singletary insists there’s too much other stuff to get done than be concerned about his future with the franchise. He has two years remaining on the four-year contract he signed after the 2008 season, when he led the Niners to a 5-4 record after taking over on an interim basis for the fired Mike Nolan. If San Francisco doesn’t win soon and turn around this surprising winless start, he understands he could become the fall guy. The Niners lost 16-14 on a last-second field goal at Atlanta on Sunday after jumping out to a 14-0 lead. “It’s the nature of this game,” Singletary said Monday. “Players have responsibilities and if they don’t do their jobs certain things happen. Coaches have responsibilities and if they don’t do their job, things happen. My mind doesn’t focus like that. I don’t worry about who I need to talk to, am I OK? These 53 guys, that’s my responsibility.”

Associated Press