LaDainian Tomlinson has been in the NFL for 11 seasons and is headed to the Hall of Fame on roller skates, to borrow an oft-used phrase from Bill Parcells. That makes Tomlinson a sage of sorts inside a Jets locker room filled mostly with players much younger and less experienced than he is.

So when Tomlinson speaks, his words carry a certain significance that shouldn’t be ignored.

That’s what made the message Tomlinson delivered yesterday so powerful in its simplicity and clarity while speaking about the crucial stretch of games the Jets face, beginning Sunday in Buffalo.

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Tomlinson, who’s not prone to cliché or hyperbole the way so many athletes who like to hear the sound of their voices do, called the game against the 5-2 first-place Bills “do-or-die” in relation to the 4-3 Jets’ chances of winning the AFC East.

“Let’s be honest, this next month is going to tell us if we’re going to be champs of the AFC East,’’ Tomlinson said, referring to two games against the Bills and one against the Patriots in the next four weeks. “That’s the way we need to look at it, starting with this game, because we can’t be champs if we don’t win this game.

“The way we need to think is if we want to win the division, the next month is going to tell us if we will or not. You can really say this is a do-or-die game.’’

As this season approached and since it began, no message from the Jets has been delivered with more regularity and force from Rex Ryan than their goal of winning the AFC East.

Win the division, earn at least one home playoff game and that’s believed to be the magic formula to getting to the Super Bowl for the first time in 42 years. The Jets have hosted exactly one playoff game in the last 12 years. Since 1998, they’ve played in 14 postseason games and had two of them at home.

Tomlinson and the Jets believe they must beat the first-place Bills Sunday to keep their division championship hopes within reach. That means winning on the road for the first time this season.

The Jets’ 0-3 road record this season is particularly perplexing because of how good they have been away from home the last two seasons, winning 15 of 22 games, including the postseason.

The Jets were 5-3 on the road in the 2009 regular season and went 2-1 in the playoffs and they were 6-2 last season and were again 2-1 in the playoffs.

They took pride the last two years in calling themselves “road warriors,’’ taking delight in going into other teams’ houses and messing up the joints, shutting up the home crowds and talking tough on their way out of town.

“You’re not going to go anywhere if you can’t win on the road,’’ Ryan said. “Unfortunately, we’ve lost three games on the road and that kind of digs at us right now. I think we’ll break the trend [Sunday].’’

The Jets, en route to consecutive AFC Championship game losses, have played six postseason games in the last two years under Ryan and all have been on the road, something Ryan believes has been the only thing preventing them from getting to the Super Bowl.

The Jets’ uncanny prowess on the road the last two years defined them as a dangerous, tough-minded team, one no one wanted to play in the postseason. Unless they turn things around on the road this season, beginning Sunday in Buffalo, there might be no playoff games for them — home or away.

“We’ve got to stop this road streak; we need to have a good ride home on the airplane,’’ defensive tackle Sione Pouha said.

“It bothers all of us,’’ Tomlinson said. “Trust me, it’s on our minds. With that type of focus I think we will come out and play good.’’