Chris Carlin is getting ready to jump off the Jets bandwagon — and it’s all Mike Greenberg’s fault.
That’s the point Carlin made Thursday when he appeared on Greenberg’s radio show and battled the ESPN anchor about the Jets’ prospects with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.
Greenberg, one of ESPN’s most prominent personalities, regularly uses “First Take” to profess his love for the Jets, which has been buoyed by Rodgers’ arrival following the offseason trade with the Packers.
Of course, Rodgers giving Greenberg a Jets jersey has only enhanced that green-eyed fandom.
But Greenberg is well aware of his reputation and joked that before Thursday’s show, Carlin said, “I need to stop you. You need to be stopped.”
The 56-year-old Greenberg was more than willing to give Carlin, 50, some time to make his case.
“If we’re really gonna get into this, let’s get into this because every time anybody says anything remotely negative about the Jets, you walk over to that wall, you grab the Rodgers jersey and you sit there and you make them hold it,” Carlin said, before taking it up a notch.
“You are becoming a totalitarian dictator and it’s getting tougher and tougher. … I do not want to hate the New York Jets! You are making me hate the New York Jets!”
Among those getting a good laugh out of the back and forth was Chris Canty, the ex-Giants defensive lineman and co-host of ESPN Radio’s “Canty & Carlin,” who joined Carlin for Thursday’s appearance with Greenberg.
Greenberg defended his passion for Gang Green and offered himself up as a sacrificial lamb.
“Well look the last time we were good everyone hated us,” Greenberg said.
“They hated Rex Ryan, we were on ‘Hard Knocks.’ Everybody hated him. Look, hate me all you want. … People are hating the New York Jets. Hate me.”
The haters get a chance to hate on Saturday when Rodgers makes his Jets debut in the team’s preseason finale against the Giants at MetLife Stadium.
Rodgers and Jets head coach Robert Saleh came to an agreement on letting the quarterback make his first preseason appearance since 2018.
Saleh expects Rodgers to take the field for multiple drives to give the 39-year-old some live reps with the first-team offense.
