The Latest on Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa

Head coach Mike McDaniel explained why Tagovailoa was kept out of the Miami Dolphins' Week 17 game at Cleveland

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) looks on before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Hard Rock Stadium. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins kept their playoff hopes alive without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Sunday, and they might have to do it again next weekend.

Tagovailoa missed the 20-3 victory against the Cleveland Browns at Huntington Bank Field because of a hip injury, and head coach Mike McDaniel broke down afterward why his starting quarterback didn't play.

Asked whether surgery could be required, McDaniel said that was "not currently on the table."

When it comes to the key question of whether Tagovailoa will be back in the lineup for the season finale against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, McDaniel couldn't provide an answer.

" I have no absolutely no idea with that," McDaniel said. "We had reasonable, hopeful expectations for his body and he absolutely had the same expectations, and so to even begin to forecast this next week, I think it's difficult because, I mean, we were waiting till the last hour. He's obviously super important to our team, it was not ideal in any way, shape or form to have a game like this and not have him available. But it was also, from a medical perspective, not an option for him to play. So we'll be hopeful for as we progress, but I can't even lean one way or the other, really. We'll see what the world has in store for us."

McDaniel said Tagovailoa sustained the injury in the Week 15 loss against the Houston Texans and aggravated it the following week against the San Francisco 49ers.

Tagovailoa was downgraded from questionable to doubtful Saturday, but his absence from the game at Cleveland didn't become official until the inactive list came out 90 minutes before kickoff.

"You try to forecast how things will heal based upon the only thing that you have to work with, which is the previous week's forecast, from the Houston game to the San Francisco game," McDaniel said. "So we were hoping and anticipating for a timeline similar to that, and as the week progressed, we didn't see the improvement we had hoped.

"Ultimately he absolutely wanted to play. It wasn't a pain tolerance thing, because that's not in the equation for him. The main thing was is that he not only was super susceptible to a much more significant injury based upon that injury, if he were to fall in harm's way, but a major factor was the lack of strength due to the injury and his inability, as we forecasted, to protect himself and his teammates within the pocket and doing the things that he normally has to do.

"It was Friday or Saturday that the hopeful trend of improvement, we were kind of faced with reality that he was kind of plateauing right then and then. But ultimately, all the way up until this morning, I kind of kept an open mind and a hopeful mind."

At the very least, if the Dolphins have to use Tyler Huntley again at quarterback against the New York Jets, they should have some confidence in him after his impressive performance in the 20-3 victory against the Browns.

Without question, though, the Dolphins very much would prefer having Tagovailoa in the lineup.

Whether that's going to happen might not be known until late in the week, if not game day again.