With playoff aspirations hanging in the balance, Miami Dolphins’ head coach Mike McDaniel says Tua Tagovailoa is “unlikely” to play in the season finale against the Jets.
Instead, it will likely be second-string signal caller Tyler Huntley under center for the second consecutive week.
Miami must win Sunday to have any chance at qualifying for the playoffs.
“I think Tua wishes it was just a pain issue,” McDaniel said Friday per ESPN when asked about the hip injury his star quarterback sustained in a Week 15 loss to the Houston Texans.
“It’s quite literally being able to have the strength to do what we ask him to do, as well as protecting himself from very serious injury if we don’t treat it appropriately. I wouldn’t say it’s a bruise, but it’s kind of a unique muscle issue as a result of the hip.”
Tagovailoa was able to play through the injury in Week 16 as the Dolphins beat the San Francisco 49ers to keep their playoff hopes alive, but was confined to the sideline in Week 17.
And with Huntley drawing his fourth start of the season against the Cleveland Browns, Miami looked no worse for the wear. The fifth year passer completed 22-of-26 attempts, threw for one score and added a second with his legs.
The Dolphins’ defense held up its end of the bargain too in the 20-3 victory.
It’s been a strong back-half of the season for the Dolphins, who have won six of eight.
Even still, entering the final week of the season, Miami will need a bit of help to secure their third consecutive playoff bid.
In addition to defeating the Jets on Sunday, the Denver Broncos must lose to the Kansas City Chiefs for the Dolphins to qualify.
If both contests shake Miami’s way — and the Chiefs have nothing to play for — McDaniel and company would earn the final AFC Wild Card spot as the seventh seed and book their trip to Orchard Park for a date with Josh Allen’s second-seeded Buffalo Bills.
The Dolphins head coach would not speculate on Tagovaiola’s availability in that hypothetical matchup and offered reporters only limited information on the quarterback’s recovery.
Tagovailoa has made progress in the past week, but the muscle injury is not one that would be fixed with a surgery. The goal, McDaniel said, is “to stop aggravating this by pushing through and [give Tagovailoa time to] try to regain strength.”
As for Sunday’s contest against the Jets, scheduled to kick off at 4:25 p.m. ET, McDaniels says, “we will approach it as if Snoop is starting.”