Give Taylor a 1-way ticket out

Lawrence Taylor’s NFL career ended more than 15 years ago, but the biggest blitz of his life is about to take place — in a New York courthouse.

This time it’s likely Taylor will be the one taken to the ground because of a despicable act of crime and sleaze. Hopefully, for the sake of justice, this coming blitz of legalities and morals resembles one of Taylor’s helmet-rattling hits, one likely altering his address for a few years.

Taylor has come a long way from being the NFL’s 1986 MVP, and is no longer one of the most feared defensive players in NFL history. Rather, No. 56 looks similar to the opposing quarterbacks he drove to the ground back in his heyday at North Carolina and with the New York Giants.

After allegedly raping and admittedly paying a 16-year-old girl $300 for sex at the Suffern, N.Y., Holiday Inn last Thursday, the former Giant looks like a small, small human being.

No longer considered a recovered addict, his attorney, Arthur Aidala, dubbed him “a caring family man.” No longer only the bearer of a gold jacket in Canton, but rather the bearer of criminal charges — rape and solicitation of a prostitute — carrying maximum sentences of four and one years in prison.

This would be the same caring, family man who had a battered 16-year-old girl brought to his doorstep like a routine UPS delivery? Spare me the rationalizations, cover-ups and sympathy votes his attorney tried to jawbone in front of the judge.

“Lawrence Taylor did not rape anybody, am I clear?” Aidala said. “We’re going to fight it as hard as he fought when he was a linebacker for the New York Giants.”

First, good call from Captain Obvious, because the discovery of a condom and an alcohol container in Taylor’s room isn’t helping the argument too much. Second, it would be nice if his lawyer would avoid bringing something as frivolous as football into the equation, given the circumstances at hand.

How can we take Taylor seriously again after the act he and Rasheed Davis arranged Thursday? Davis allegedly beat the runaway girl prior to arriving at the hotel. And if found guilty, Taylor would be adding two more convictions along with his priors of attempting to buy cocaine, leaving the scene of an accident and tax evasion — all of which have occurred since his retirement from the NFL.

If convicted, it’s on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to strip Taylor of his Hall of Fame status and ban him from football for life. There’s no room for sleaze in Canton, and if found guilty, that’s all Taylor will and should be remembered for. These are acts that, aside from murder, rank as some of the worst in which an individual could participate.

If all of this malarkey on the defense attorney’s part is accurate, where was the 911 call from Taylor, who went “out of his way” to make sure he was not involved in the girl’s beatings? It only points to something else happening between the time she arrived and the 911 call.

While the truth will eventually come out, one can hope Taylor was framed and that no foul play occurred. But given the evidence, and lack of 911 call, there are too many gaps to realistically predict an innocent outcome.

If Taylor is guilty, it will be a giant hit to Goodell’s continuing efforts to clean up the image of past and present players in his league — a hit synonymous to one of Taylor’s own, but for all the wrong reasons.