Tua Tagovailoa has thick skin, apparently Mac Jones has none

The news out of New England regarding Mac Jones should be something every Miami Dolphins fan loves about Tua Tagovailoa.

O.k. so let’s jump in. According to a report that surfaced out of New England, some Patriots coaches have been told to not be too hard on Mac Jones because he would get inside his own head.

Henry McKenna of FoxSports reported the following while writing a piece on the thoughs of Devin McCourty’s opinion on Mac Jones.

"In early December 2022, Jones said publicly that he wanted to be coached harder. A team source told me that ahead of the 2022 season, coaches were instructed not to be too hard on Jones in an effort to protect him from being too critical of himself. There had been an issue in 2021 with Jones struggling after getting yelled at, per the source. That source also suggested, in hindsight, it might have been a mistake to go easy on the quarterback."

We can’t be sure exactly what is being referred to but if coaches were asked to “go easy” on Jones can you imagine if that same were true for Miami Dolphins Tua Tagovialoa?

Tagovailoa has endured more vitriol from the media and his own head coach internally than any other quarterback the Dolphins have had. The public noise regarding Tua has been absolutely atrocious and unwarranted 90% of the time. It is one thing to criticize a player for their play on the field but Tua has endured far more without having a chance to prove anyone wrong. Whether your are pro or anti-Tua, you have to admit the surrounding stress had to be nearly unbearable whether some of it was true or not.

How would Jones have been in that situation? McKenna says that “in hindsight” they probably shouldn’t have gone easy on him but would Jones have reacted with better play or would have built bigger walls and hid inside them?

Honestly, I don’t want to make fun or even poke fun at his mental capacity if there is a problem. He is a target because he is the QB for the Dolphins rivals. So that makes him a target just like Josh Allen and whoever ends up in New York.

Regardless, thank God Tua has thicker skin because no one has to go easy on him, the kid apparently can handle a lot more than others but then again, Tua was forced to deal with it.