Wide receiver Brandon Marshall blames a lack of veteran leadership for the New York Jets’ disappointing season — and he includes himself in that group.

“I don’t think we did a good job, us as leaders in the locker room,” Marshall said Wednesday morning on ESPN’s Mike & Mike radio show. “We have to do a better job. It always comes down to the stars, the leadership. It’s on us and we didn’t get it done.”

The 5-11 season was marked by occasional locker room strife. Marshall and Sheldon Richardson were involved in a heated argument after a Week 3 loss, an incident that created “a dark cloud” for the remainder of the season, cornerback Darrelle Revis said at the end of the year.

“I’m not going to sit here and make any excuses and point fingers at younger guys and this or that,” Marshall said. “It comes down to our veterans, the guys who have been in the league six, seven-plus years. We need to do a better job of making sure everyone is in line.”

Coach Todd Bowles is expected to change the chemistry by cutting some high-profile veterans. Marshall, 33, who is due to make a non-guaranteed $7.5 million, is rumored to be on the chopping block.

The Jets are trying to get younger, but they haven’t shut the door on Marshall, sources said. The team is waiting to see how the offseason shakes out before making a decision on the six-time Pro Bowl receiver.

“I’m under contract,” Marshall said. “Until they tell me otherwise, I’m going to continue to present myself as a Jet and try to get [our] team to a Super Bowl.”

Marshall is coming off what he called the worst year of his career – 59 catches, 788 yards and three touchdowns. That, combined with an uncertain quarterback situation, didn’t stop him from an outrageous prediction for 2017.

“I promise you, I’ll be in the top five [among receivers],” Marshall said on ESPN’s “First Take.”

Marshall refused to speculate on who might be throwing him the ball, a departure from last offseason. He lobbied publicly for the team to re-sign Ryan Fitzpatrick, whose contract dispute with the team lasted until late July.

Von Miller rewarded bettors by taking home Super Bowl 50 MVP honors at odds as high as 25-1 in Las Vegas sportsbooks last season. Bettors this year are hoping for a similar outcome from a different defensive player.

Tom Brady is the overwhelming favorite to win MVP at 10-11 odds at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, with Matt Ryan the second choice at 8-5.

But the most MVP tickets at Westgate have actually been written on Atlanta Falcons linebacker Vic Beasley Jr., whose odds opened at 100-1 last Thursday and have dropped to 50-1 over the course of betting action this week.

HOUSTON — A Boston College press release from Feb. 5, 2003, touted the top recruits in the Eagles’ 23-member football recruiting class.

Matt Ryan wasn’t mentioned.

A total of 14 players, including current Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive lineman Gosder Cherilus and current New Jersey-area coach/substitute teacher/trainer Andre Callender, were singled out in the release as key members of a class that ranked as high as 10th nationally. The only quarterback referenced was Paul Peterson, a transfer from Snow Junior College in Utah.

And then there was Ryan, a three-star recruit from Penn Charter in Philadelphia.

“I was a 170-pound, triple-option quarterback,” Ryan said. “So, yeah, I remember being like a three-star guy.”

The Atlanta Falcons quarterback is on the verge of being named the NFL’s MVP as he guides his team into a Super Bowl LI matchup Sunday against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Ryan wasn’t the most highly touted recruit, but his rise to a top-caliber NFL talent should be a message to all the players signing national letters of intent Wednesday.

Ryan was recruited by Iowa, Georgia Tech, Connecticut and Purdue before picking Boston College.

“I remember signing,” Ryan said. “It was at my high school. We had a number of different athletes at our school who were signing to go to different places. And it was a fun event. I chose BC because it was an awesome place. It’s a great school. It’s a great place to play football. The city is one of the best to go to college in. There’s so many schools, so many different places you can go hang out. It’s was an awesome place, and I’m glad I made that decision.”

According to Rivals.com, Kyle Wright was the top pro-style quarterback in the 2003 class, followed by Chris Leak and Tommy Grady. Ryan was ranked No. 25 on a list that also included JaMarcus Russell (No. 5), Brady Quinn (No. 10), Matt Flynn (No. 16), and Super Bowl champ Joe Flacco (No. 39).

“I’m surprised he turned out to be a great one,” Lemming said. “I’m sure I had him higher than a three-star guy, though. The fact that he didn’t have great mobility is probably why I didn’t name him a five-star guy. … The guy in Houston [Brock Osweiler] was a five-star guy for me. But right now, he’s the one playing like a three-star.”

HOUSTON — From the personnel to the style of play, the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots couldn’t be any more different on defense. The Falcons are one of the fastest defenses in the NFL and have an it’s-all-about-the-ball mentality to create turnovers, while the Patriots boast one of the biggest and most physical units.

Atlanta is more likely to penetrate at the snap and create disruption; the Patriots often ask their defensive linemen to play a two-gapping technique by controlling the blocker in front of them while remaining patient. New England led the NFL in scoring defense during the regular season (an average of 15.6 points per game allowed), while Atlanta ranked 27th in points allowed (25.3). One thing that helped the Falcons’ defense was the fact the unit was often playing with the lead, a result of the team outscoring opponents 139-68 in the first quarter.

CALLING CARD

Falcons: Speed and physicality. When Dan Quinn left his defensive coordinator job in Seattle to become the head coach of the Falcons, his signature phrase was “fast and physical.” It took a bit, but Quinn eventually established such an identity within his defense. It started with NFL sacks leader Vic Beasley Jr., who used his devastating speed off the edge to record 15.5 sacks to go along with six forced fumbles. Then rookie middle linebacker Deion Jones, one of the fastest linebackers the Falcons have had in years, put his stamp on the defense with a 90-yard interception return for a touchdown against his hometown team, the New Orleans Saints, in his first game inside the Superdome. Atlanta won that game 45-32. Jones finished the season with a team-high 106 tackles, and fellow rookie Keanu Neal, the enforcer at safety with his punishing hits, finished right behind with 105 stops. Free safety Ricardo Allen showed the range and open-field tackling to help eliminate big plays, and the cornerback tandem of Robert Alford and Jalen Collins made up for the loss of speedy Pro Bowl CB Desmond Trufant (pectoral surgery).

Patriots: Tackling. The Patriots’ defense led the NFL in fewest yards allowed after the catch (4.05 average), which reflects their solid tackling. While some teams teach a style of holding up the ball carrier so others can rally to the ball and attempt to strip it, coordinator Matt Patricia focuses more on defenders tackling ball carriers to the ground. It shows at every position, including cornerback, which is often overlooked in the run-force game. Sound tackling has also contributed to one of New England’s more impressive statistics: Its defense hasn’t allowed a 90-yard rusher in the past 25 games, dating to 2015. Meanwhile, creating turnovers has long been a staple of the Patriots’ defensive unit; after totaling just nine through the first nine games (two of which came on special teams), the group exploded for 14 over the final seven regular-season games of 2016.

MOST IMPRESSIVE GAME OR STRETCH OF GAMES

Falcons: During Atlanta’s current six-game winning streak, its defense has made significant strides from the one that surrendered 27.9 points per game through the first 12 games of the regular season. Over this six-game stretch, the defense has allowed just 19.3 points per game. Playing the likes of the Rams and 49ers offered an opportunity to pad numbers, but it’s hard to argue with the Falcons holding their own in playoff matchups against Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson. In the playoffs, the Falcons have forced four turnovers, building off the momentum from the end of the regular season. Quinn preaches “the ball” all the time, which is why the Falcons finished the regular season with a plus-11 turnover ratio, tied for fourth in the NFL.

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Patriots: Denver has traditionally been a challenging place for the Patriots to play (10-21 all time), but the defense did its part in a 16-3 win Dec. 18. Sure, it was against quarterback Trevor Siemian and an offense that doesn’t qualify as lethal, but on a day when the Patriots’ own offense was struggling to find its groove, the defense put the clamps down in holding the Broncos to a 2-of-12 success rate on third down while recovering one fumble and intercepting a pass. In a dominant stretch to open the second half, the defense produced five straight three-and-out drives.

THE ONE TO WATCH

Falcons: Beasley. He doesn’t have a sack or a quarterback hit yet this postseason, so he’s due. Of course, opposing teams are chipping him more often, knowing how dominant a pass-rusher he can be. Now it’s up to Beasley to keep his focus and play with the same intensity he has all season. His likely matchup in the Super Bowl will come against Patriots right tackle Marcus Cannon. The Patriots have lost two of the three Super Bowls in which quarterback Tom Brady was sacked multiple times. Beasley had four multisack games in the regular season.

Patriots: Malcolm Butler. One of the remarkable out-of-nowhere stories in the NFL, the third-year cornerback from West Alabama was determined not to rest on his laurels after his game-saving interception in the Super Bowl victory over the Seahawks two years ago. He was No. 5 on the depth chart at the time of his unforgettable goal-line pick but rose quickly to the No. 1 spot in 2015 and 2016 while becoming one of the team’s most consistent and dependable players. Butler played 98.8 percent of the snaps in 2015 and 96.7 percent in 2016 and was often called upon to line up across from the opponent’s top receiver.