Everything is hanging on week 18 for the Miami Dolphins. Sitting at 8-8, the Miami team is yet to solidify their place in the playoffs. Even though a victory itself won’t guarantee a playoff appearance for the franchise, a loss will surely crush them. For the team to make it to the playoffs for a third consecutive year, they will have to hope the Broncos lose vs Chiefs. The Dolfans are hoping for the team to make it to playoffs. But HC Mike McDaniel laid the injury blueprint out before the game vs ‘Gang Green.’

Per McDaniel, it’s “unlikely that Tua will see any action.” When asked in detail about Tua Tagovailoa‘s injury situation, the HC denied a possibility of surgery while addressing the media: “It’s not a surgical solution. It is a stop aggravating [the injury] by pushing through and trying to regain some security and strength.” The QB got injured vs the Texans, a game that resulted in a 12-20 loss for the team. Even though he was available next week for a game vs San Francisco, Tagovailoa couldn’t push further and missed week 17 vs Cleveland Browns, which thankfully resulted in a 20-3 win with Tyler Huntley under the center.

Well, this is not the first time Tagovailoa has suffered a hip injury. He suffered a pelvic fracture while dislocating his hip in a 2019 injury during his college days. The Alabama alumni was reportedly “screaming in pain” while he was carted off in a game against the Mississippi State. But if HC McDaniel is to be believed, both the injuries are purely unrelated. “There’s no causation involved in it,” said the HC this Monday, further emphasizing, “They are unrelated in terms of really the nature of that injury versus this.”

Tua himself is not very bothered by the injury. The QB believes he will “be available next week, there’s no if and or buts around.” That is, if the team makes it to the playoffs. But as luck would have it, the Phins’ are doubtful about quite a lot of players. It seems Miami’s got the injury bug pretty bad!

Mike McDaniel shared good and bad news for the Dolfans

While QB Tagovailoa’s situation is still up in the air, HC McDaniel had some more things to share. Hopping on to the somewhat good news first! OT Terron Armstead will probably return to the gridiron vs the NY Jets. As the HC opined, “It would be unfair to dismiss his ability to dig deep and do stuff for himself and the team. He’s a hard guy for me to rule out… I’m hopeful.” Armstead re-injured his knee last week against the Browns, and per McDaniel fans will have to “wait for the hour and half time frame before the game” to be sure of his presence. This has been an ongoing concern for the OT for some weeks. And just like last week, he didn’t practise on Wednesday and Thursday, but practised this Friday.

Moving on to the bad news, Anthony Walker Jr. was ruled out for the game by the HC. Walker Jr. will be missing out on his second game after last week’s game vs. his former team, the Browns. The 29-year-old LB has been on and off after he got injured in the week 12 game against Patriots. As McDaniel put it, “he’s hanging in there, he’s such a competitor.” He further clarified that, “following the San Francisco game, the Monday after, he had something pop up and we can rule him out for this game.”

Besides this, Mike McDaniel also mentioned he was “optimistic” about players like WR Jaylen Waddle and safety Jordan Poyer. While things are not looking good for the Miami team as of now, given the fact that some key players might be missing out, it’s safe to say that this week’s game is a must-win for their playoff chances. All they need after that is for the Chiefs to land a W vs Denver!