After starting all 14 Miami Dolphins games this season, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has no assurance that he’ll start Game 15 on Sunday, coach Mike McDaniel said on Tuesday.
After the Dolphins were eliminated from playoff contention by a 28-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night, McDaniel was asked if he would consider making a quarterback change in the team’s final three games of the season.
“It would be very rash and shortsighted if I even tried to tackle that option,” McDaniel said. “I think I have to look at the tape, and I’ll move on from there.”
McDaniel looked at the tape and had something different to say at his Tuesday press conference.
“Well, I think the quarterback play last night was not good enough,” McDaniel said, “and so for me, everything’s on the table. …
“We’re in the process of game-planning for the Cincinnati Bengals, so in that process, we’re trying to determine who will give us the best chance to win, and I’ll probably give you more clarity on that tomorrow.”
Miami’s other quarterbacks are 2021 NFL Draft No. 2 pick Zach Wilson and seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers. Wilson has started 33 NFL games and played 23 snaps this season. Ewers has played 12 snaps in his career.
McDaniel said he wouldn’t play either of Tagovailoa’s backups against the Bengals on Sunday solely to see what the Dolphins had on the bench.
“I think I’ll consider the quarterback that will give us the best chance to win,” McDaniel said. “And I can’t look past that. Again, I don’t diminish the opportunity and the responsibility to go and win a game, and I won’t do it at the expense of, you know, I’m not going to turn everybody’s game into a trial practice.”
Monday night’s loss ended the slim playoff hopes that Miami had kindled with a four-game winning streak, during which the Dolphins offense produced more rushing yards than passing yards in each contest.
In compiling a 6-8 record, Miami ranks 23rd in points, 25th in yards, 26th in passing yards and 14th in rushing yards among the NFL’s 32 teams this season.
As the quarterback, McDaniel said, Tagovailoa gets an oversized share of the blame for the Dolphins’ 25th consecutive season without a playoff victory.
“I think the biggest thing is that you have a standard of performance of you have 11 guys trying to work together as one,” McDaniel said, “and I think it takes all 11. A lot of times, there are often times that, you know, heavy is the crown. There’s misplaced blame, and it’s not always one person’s fault. Generally, it’s not one person’s fault.
“But, you know, realistically, I just want to give, with some credence behind it, that the team deserves to have the best chance to win the football game. So that means taking care of the football, being able to make plays, move the chains and get the ball to the open guys.”
Against Pittsburgh, Tagovailoa completed 22-of-28 passes for 283 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Despite those stats, the Dolphins had 93 yards entering the fourth quarter. As Miami fell behind 28-3, Tagovailoa completed 6-of-10 passes for 59 yards with one interception, which was his league-leading 15th of the season.
“You really have a standard,” McDaniel said, “and when that standard is not being met, something’s got to give, and we’re looking for clarity on that because it’s not where I want it to be. …
“We have to have a certain standard at each position. All positions are the same. There’s no one entitled to preferential treatment, and when there’s a a better option, it’s my job to attack that.”
In 2023, Tagovailoa led the NFL with 4,624 passing yards. Last season, a concussion and a hip injury kept Tagovailoa out of six games, but the former Alabama All-American placed fourth in the league in average passing yards per game and had the NFL’s highest completion percentage.
This season, Tagovailoa’s complete rate is 5 percent lower, his interception rate has more than doubled and he’s averaging 70.6 fewer passing yards per game than he did in 2024.
“I think that there’s been a lot of things at play,” McDaniel said. “I wouldn’t pinpoint exactly this, that or the other. I just know that at this stage of the season, my expectation was that we’d have a better performance.”
The Dolphins and Bengals square off at noon CST Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. At 4-10, Cincinnati isn’t going to the playoffs either.