"LaDainian Tomlinson has been dreaming about "it" since he was a 6-year-old Pop Warner star in complete adoration of Walter Payton.

Jason Taylor called "it" the reason he's still playing football and not in a television or dance studio doing something else for a living.

"It" happens to be a Super Bowl ring, the elusive prize that legitimizes résumés and turns talented players into legendary ones.

For Taylor and Tomlinson, a pair of 30-somethings still longing for their first championship and the jewelry that comes with it, that pursuit is what brought them here.

They came to the Jets with the mind-set of taking the final and toughest step of their decorated careers, ultimately by being willing to do anything they could to get there.

"The older you get in your career, you realize the end is getting closer and closer," said Taylor, 36. "You can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The light's coming quicker and quicker to the point where it's not blinding yet, but you need sunglasses on.

"You realize the end is near."

Neither Taylor nor Tomlinson wants an ending without getting what he cherishes most.

In their chase for a ring, which continues Saturday night in Indianapolis against the Colts, the probable first-ballot Hall of Famers have checked their egos at the door for the betterment of a team that offered a chance for their desperate needs.

As things have turned out, the Jets needed Tomlinson and Taylor even more.

Within a franchise that has dealt with a lifetime's worth of distractions in a span of four months, two of the new kids on the Gang Green block have lent wisdom and leadership that goes beyond the playing field."