Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is “unlikely” to play on Sunday because of a “unique muscle issue,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said on Friday, even though the NFL team’s playoff opportunity will be the line.

The former Alabama All-American missed Miami’s previous game, but the Dolphins defeated the Cleveland Browns 20-3 with Snoop Huntley at quarterback.

“We’ll approach it like Snoop’s starting,” said McDaniel, who has had Huntley taking first-team reps in practice. “It looks like the way that I approached the week was probably smart. I see it as unlikely that Tua will see any action.”

Tagovailoa has been a limited practice participant because of what has been termed a hip injury.

Tagovailoa sustained the injury during a 20-12 loss to the Houston Texans on Dec. 15 and aggravated it in a 29-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 22. Tagovailoa took every offensive snap for the Dolphins in both games.

Tagovailoa was a limited participant in practice last week, too, and the Dolphins held him out of Sunday’s game when the injury did not improve in the expected manner, making it “not safe at all” for the quarterback to play, McDaniel said on Monday.

McDaniel said the injury had improved this week.

“We expected that now that we got a little more familiar with the injury as it relates to his body,” McDaniel said on Friday. “But some of the most challenging part of it has been you usually base things off of knowns, so if I say somebody has a high ankle, depending on the grade, if it’s inside or outside, you have a barometer. If somebody sprains their MCL, somebody has a AC joint, these things are patternized based upon the routine and how often they happen to various players, where this injury wasn’t really of that nature. So it hasn’t been a setback, but that’s because we’ve proceeded with caution.”

McDaniel said the problem wasn’t one that Tagovailoa could overcome by manning-up.

“I think Tua wishes it was just a pain issue,” McDaniel said. “It’s quite literally being able to have the strength to do what we ask him to do as well as protecting himself from a very serious injury if we don’t treat it appropriately, so I wouldn’t say it was a bruise, but it’s kind of a unique muscle issue as a result of the hip.”

McDaniel said what Tagovailoa’s injury needed was time, and the Dolphins play the New York Jets on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s not a surgical solution,” McDaniel said. “It is a stop aggravating this by pushing through and try to regain some security and strength.”

If the Dolphins defeat the Jets and the Denver Broncos lose to the Kansas City Chiefs on the final Sunday of the regular season, Miami will claim the third wild-card spot in the AFC playoff field. Both games will kick off at 3:25 p.m. CST, with the Dolphins on the road and the Broncos at home. FOX will televise the Miami-New York game. CBS will televise the Kansas City-Denver contest.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.