Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said in April that he considered retiring after sustaining two concussions during the 2022 NFL season. Then the former Alabama All-American set his sights on staying on the field during the 2023 campaign, adding strength and bulk and learning to fall better through jiu jitsu training with a goal of playing in every game for the first time in his career.

When the Dolphins play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night, Tagovailoa will make his 17th start of the season – reaching his durability goal.

“It’s a blessing that I get to play the entire season,” Tagovailoa said. “I think anyone would say the same around the league that it’s a blessing to make it this far as healthy as anyone can be right now leading up to this week. So very blessed, very fortunate. And I don’t take this for granted.”

Miami coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa has worked to stay on the field.

“He doesn’t have office hours relative to what needs to be done with his body or his mind,” McDaniel said. “If he’s working out a contusion on his leg, however long that process needs to take, he’s not inching his way out of the door. He’s coming early, staying late. If a game plan, if he didn’t like the way that he executed some plays or if he didn’t like his ownership of the plays, there’s been times that I see his car in the parking lot well after it’s dark. …

“Really at this stage of the season, a lot of guys aren’t feeling what you’d call 100 percent just with the game of football, so if you want people to strain and separate, I guess, something that hurts versus an injury, I think as a leader, as a captain, you lead by example. I know he knows that. He tries to exude toughness in any opportune time, and he’s really willing to do whatever it takes.

“I mean, case in point, he had issues with hitting his head on the ground, so he took jiu jitsu and spent a lot of hours of his life training so that he could be proactive and preventative. Not everyone’s doing that. Not everyone would do that. Anything that he can control, he tries to take in his hands.”

Tagovailoa didn’t finish the Dolphins’ previous game. With Miami being routed by the Baltimore Ravens in what ended as a 56-19, backup Mike White mopped up after Tagovailoa came up with a sore throwing shoulder after a rushing attempt.

“My shoulder is good, brother,” Tagovailoa said on Wednesday. “It’s all good.”

But the quarterback also has been dealing with a sore thumb on his throwing hand, too – something known because of “Hard Knocks: In Season with the Miami Dolphins.”

“They showed that?” Tagovailoa said. “… Well, everyone has the nicks and bruises at this point of the season, so that’s not an excuse for me. But that’s what was going on.”

That won’t keep Tagovailoa off the field for the NFL’s final regular-season game of 2023. The Dolphins will square off against the Buffalo Bills at 7:20 p.m. CST Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. NBC will televise the game.

The winner will earn the AFC East’s seed in the postseason and start the playoffs with a home game next week.

Miami already has secured spot in the postseason, but the Dolphins haven’t won the division title since 2008.

“I would say that’s our goal short-term,” Tagovailoa said. “We want to win the division. But like I’ve said in many of these press conferences, in order for us to go where we want to go, we have to win every game. And it starts this week.”

If Miami loses, it would start the playoffs next week as a wild-card qualifier on the road.

Buffalo does not have that kind of safety net. The Bills might not have a safety net at all. If Buffalo loses, it still could go to the playoffs if the Jacksonville Jaguars lose. The Jaguars play the Tennessee Titans at noon Sunday, so the Bills will know where they stand before Sunday night’s kickoff.

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