Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said it’s too soon to tell if Tua Tagovailoa will be ready to make his return to the lineup in time to play against the New York Jets. What he does know is that the team will prep for the possibility that Tyler Huntley is forced to start for the second straight week.
“Snoop [Huntley] will get more reps than Tua this week,” McDaniel told reporters Monday. “I have to be prepared for both guys to play because I don’t really know what it’s going to look like this next Sunday. We’re kind of in a gray area now because [Tagovailoa’s] body didn’t cooperate with my agenda.”
The Dolphins gave very little indication last week that Tagovailoa was in danger of sitting out. The quarterback told reporters Thursday that his injured hip was “good” and just “banged up a little bit.” But Tagovailoa was listed as questionable by the team Friday and downgraded to doubtful Saturday.
“What was tricky is we were basing all our timelines with this particular, unique injury to Tua and how his body responded to that based upon the week previous,” McDaniel said. “It was about the timing of when the game was relative to his recovery process from the last week which was a different timeline than the week previous.
“What does that mean for this week? Well, honestly, I don’t really know. There was a lot of optimism last week in my mind based upon the previous experience.”
Fortunately for the Dolphins, Huntley showed more than enough against the Cleveland Browns to lead the team to believe it can win in Week 18 with the backup. He completed 22 of his 26 passes in a 20-3 win with a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown.
After the victory, McDaniel told reporters that Tagovailoa “absolutely wanted to play” but was “super susceptible” to a more significant injury. On Monday, he said it was medical professionals who made the decision to keep the quarterback out of action.
“It’s pretty cut and dry — 100 times out of 100, if someone’s not medically cleared to play, I don’t trump card that,” McDaniel said.
The Dolphins are 6-5 with Tagovailoa in the lineup and have averaged 24.1 points in his starts. Miami has scored 12 points per game without him with a 2-3 record.
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