For the first time this season, the Miami Dolphins won a game without Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback, and the victory got them into the NFL playoffs.

With Tagovailoa sidelined by a concussion and backup Teddy Bridgewater out with a dislocated finger, third-team QB Skylar Thompson went all the way under center on Sunday as the Dolphins defeated the New York Jets 11-6 – the first NFL regular-season game to end with that score.

Coupled with the New England Patriots’ 35-23 loss to the Buffalo Bills on the final day of the 2022 regular season, the victory earned Miami the open wild-card spot in the AFC playoff field.

MORE NFL:

· ALABAMA ROUNDUP: JERRY JEUDY HAS DOUBLE CAREER DAY

· AUBURN ROUNDUP: LITTLE PLAYOFF LUCK FOR FORMER TIGERS

· STATE ROUNDUP: VELUS JONES JR. SCOOTS TO HIS FIRST RUSHING TD

The Dolphins will square off against the Bills at noon CST Sunday at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

Miami gave Buffalo one of its three losses in 2022, topping the Bills 21-19 on Sept. 25. Buffalo split the regular-season series between the AFC East rivals with a 32-29 victory on Dec. 17.

Tagovailoa completed 30-of-48 passes for 420 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in those games. But will he be back from a two-game absence to play against the Bills in the postseason?

“We’ll continue to take it day-by-day,” Miami coach Mike McDaniel said after Sunday’s game, “and I will not even think about any sort of game, whether that’s this year or next year, until he’s fully ready to do so, and that comes with medical clearance. That’s why the procedure is in place. Haven’t even thought about that.

“Ready for either quarterback against the Bills. There’s a lot of things that have to — we have to get through the training room first. Teddy was battling to be available, and we think that he was in a spot that he could have come through in an emergency situation. And Skylar got twisted up a couple times, too, so we’ll have to see how all that shapes out. But, yeah, there will be some question marks, but fortunately this team has proven not to blink in any sort of question marks either way. We have guys that we really believe in, and we’ll go with the healthiest group up to Buffalo and play a very good football team.”

Tagovailoa attended Sunday’s game at Hard Rock Stadium and joined his teammates as they watched the end of the Patriots’ loss after their victory.

“He was just all smiles because this is his team that he — this was the first game we were able to pull off without him,” McDaniel said. “And he was just happy for his teammates and happy for himself because, like I said, everybody that’s a part of – that’s what’s so cool about team sports, so it’s not, ‘OK, this person got us to the playoffs, that person,’ I mean, shoot, he’s led us to where we’re at to the point that we’ve had two games down the stretch of the season that if we win one, we could possibly make the postseason. That’s to his credit. He was very happy and shaking hands and just being there for his teammates.”

RELATED: NFL POSTSEASON FIELD SET FOR SUPER BOWL LVII TOURNAMENT

Whether the former Alabama All-American will be there on the first Sunday of the postseason isn’t under discussion yet.

“Once it was articulated to me that it doesn’t help Tua in any way, shape or form if I project any sort of things besides, ‘Hey, what are we doing today?’ and ‘Are we getting better today?’ I haven’t even thought about it,” McDaniel said. “I just want him to take everything day-by-day, and we’ll assess everything when he’s fully cleared, whenever that is. But I’m not worried about timelines. Saying yes or no to the postseason is another added layer of anxiety either way whatever I say. I’m not in the business of that. I’m going to do what’s best for that player. We’ll see each and every day. It’s not because I like keeping people in suspense. It’s because it’s the best thing for the human being.”

In Tagovailoa’s third NFL season, he had two two-game absences because of concussions. In his 13 starts, Tagovailoa compiled the NFL’s best passing-efficiency rating for the 2022 season at 105.5. The rating uses percentage of completions, touchdowns and interceptions and average gain per pass to produce its figure, and Tagovailoa topped the league with an average of 8.9 yards per pass.

Tagovailoa completed 259-of-400 passes for 3,548 yards with 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Three of the interceptions occurred in the fourth quarter of Tagovailoa’s most recent game – a 26-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 25. The next day, Tagovailoa entered the NFL’s concussion protocol.

Despite the concussion issues for Tagovailoa, the Dolphins qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2016 and the third time in the past 21 seasons.

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 Twitter at @AMarkG1.