Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was unable to play in the Week 17 win over the Browns due to a hip injury, and head coach Mike McDaniel doesn’t know if Tagovailoa will be able to play in the regular-season finale.

McDaniel told reporters after Sunday’s game in Cleveland that Tagovailoa’s hip injury, initially suffered in the Week 15 loss to Houston, was aggravated by a hit last week in the win over the 49ers. While Tagovailoa had improved in the week of practice leading up to the game in San Francisco, the quarterback did not respond in the same way leading up to the game against the Browns.

McDaniel said it’s about giving Tagovailoa’s body the proper time to heal.

“From a medical perspective, it wasn’t an option him to playsaid McDaniel.

“At the end of the day, he really wanted to play,” McDaniel added. “It wasn’t a question of pain tolerance – because that’s out of the question for him. He wasn’t physically affected – the main thing is that he wasn’t just very vulnerable to a much more serious injury based on that injury if he were to fall into danger. However, a significant factor was the lack of strength due to the injury and his inability to protect himself and his teammates in the pocket as predicted and do the things he normally needs to do.”

It appears that Tagovailoa just needs time for his injury to heal, as McDaniel said, “Surgery is not on the table at this time.” McDaniel also noted that the injury is “not at all” related to Tagovailoa’s previous hip injury, which he sustained during during his time in Alabama.

Still, McDaniel has “no idea” whether or not Tagovailoa will be able to play against the Jets in Week 18.

“(We) had reasonable, hopeful expectations for his body and he had absolutely the same expectations. So I think it’s difficult to even predict next week because we waited until the last hour or so,” McDaniel said. “It wasn’t ideal in any way to have a game like this – to not have him available. … That’s what we’ll hope for as we move forward. But I can’t even really lean one way or the other. So we’ll see what the world has in store for us.”

Tyler Huntley, playing in place of Tagovailoa, went 22 of 26 for 225 yards with one touchdown. He rushed for 52 yards on seven carries and a touchdown.

In 11 starts this year, Tagovailoa has completed 73 percent of his passes for 2,867 and 19 touchdowns with seven interceptions.