After a report from Henry McKenna of Fox Sports detailing the second year struggles of Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, it would appear that coaches were instructed to go easy on Mac. Zolak and Bertrand weighed in on whether Mac needs to be treated with kid gloves in his sophomore season.

• Does Mac need to be treated with kid gloves? Zo weighs in...

  “I’d coach him hard. I don’t think that’s a kid you got to coddle. I really don’t. I mean, he got his ass handed to him by Saban. I think he’s got some thick skin.”

   

  

• What happened to Mac's breathing exercises? Beetle's thoughts:

   

  “I used to ask you last season, I said, what happened to Mac’s breathing exercises that he was doing his first season? He wasn’t doing that this season. That was no longer part of the routine coming back to the sideline.. He’s just going over there and doing whatever he wants to be doing. Felt like it. It was no longer a thing. Was that because he wasn’t getting yelled at?

• Mac Jones on using breathing exercises on the sideline: "For me that helps, because that kind of lowers the pressure part of it. ... For me, it just help calm everything down."

  — Henry McKenna (@henrycmckenna) September 15, 2021

• Is Mac Missing one key trait of great quarterbacks?

  “You look at the quarterbacks in the league. And what do you say about the best?, man? You know, so mentally tough hangs in there, just, you know, doesn’t have the meltdowns, all that stuff. A mental toughness is a big part of that position,” Beetle says.

  “And this is someone trying to make Mac Jones look less than mentally tough. ‘Oh, he wants to be coached hard, but we were told not to coach him too hard because he’s too hard on himself.’

  “And in 2021, that was bad. But then we got to the end of 2022 and then now maybe they just should have coached him harder anyway to see where it goes. That’s the only way I can make heads or tails of this, because it doesn’t really totally add up. Got to go easy on him. Take care of him. Make sure he’s comfortable. Make sure he’s good to go. I don’t care if you’re a quarterback or any other position player in this league. When you’re younger, you’ve got to sort of go with the flow in anything.”

• "He is an extremely mentally tough, very cerebral, very smart player."
  
  Matt Patricia praises Mac Jones' mental and physical toughness on the field 😤 pic.twitter.com/NYqsTOIoaJ

  — NBC Sports Boston's Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) September 13, 2022

• LISTEN for the full discussion!

• Listen to Zolak & Bertrand from 10-2 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Marc “Beetle” Bertrand, Scott Zolak, and Rob “Hardy” Poole. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @ZoAndBertrand on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with the show!

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