Dolphins’ McDaniel offer updates on Tagovailoa, Holland, Achane, special teams issues

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa remains on track to return from a concussion, and Tyler Huntley will remain the Dolphins’ starting quarterback in the interim.

Those were the major takeaways from Mike McDaniel’s Monday press briefing.

ESPN has reported that Tagovailoa has no symptoms and there’s a good possibility that he will play in his first game that he’s eligible to return, Oct. 27 against Arizona.

McDaniel has declined to give a timetable, partly because Tagovailoa remains in concussion protocol.

But asked if any medical expert has said Tagovailoa needs considerably more time on the sidelines after he’s eligible to come off IR and clears concussion protocol, McDaniel said: “Nothing negative so far. But we’re still in the process.”

McDaniel said Tagovailoa has an “expert consultation” scheduled this week and “the final stages of protocol won’t be achieved until we bring him back off IR... Everything is so far so good.”

Asked if Huntley will remain the starting quarterback in the interim, or whether he will compete with Skylar Thompson, McDaniel said: “I feel pretty good about how fast [Huntley] has developed and I would... forecast continuing that development process.”

Meanwhile, running back De’Von Achane enters the bye week in concussion protocol.

Regarding the situation at safety, Jevon Holland is expected to miss some time with a broken bone in a hand, but McDaniel was non-committal about the timetable.

Holland could be back very soon if he plays with a cast on his hand; McDaniel said he’s “open to that with a player of his skill set.”

Whether a player can be effective wearing a cast “all depends on the player,” McDaniel said. “If you offer... what Jevon offers, there’s value playing with a cast even if you are just a PBU [pass breakup] at the point of attack. He’s so instrumental in the ways we use him.”

McDaniel sounded optimistic that safety Jordan Poyer, who missed Sunday’s game with a shin injury, will return after the bye. McDaniel said he “feels good where Poyer is at today and feel good about the time we have” before Miami next plays Oct. 20 at Indianapolis (1 p.m., Fox).

McDaniel addressed other issues:

▪ On Sunday’s 15-10 win in New England, McDaniel said: “We felt like we could have had a much cleaner game... The run game took a step in the right direction....

“In this league, you have to run it when you know they’re going to if you want success in tight games.... It’s easy for me to call 10 runs in a row when players give me reason to... We went into the game knowing non-negotiably we needed to win.”

▪ McDaniel said fullback Alec Ingold’s play was “phenomenal” on Sunday and that it was “fitting” he scored the game winning touchdown.

▪ McDaniel wasn’t happy with the special teams mistakes but also said there were some good plays on special teams.

“It wasn’t all bad,” he said. “However, the mistakes that did occur were unusual and we are trying to get to the bottom of why they occurred and make sure they don’t happen again. Typically, with mistakes like that, you end up losing the game...

“That snap [on a botched field goal] can’t be errant. We can’t have blocked punts.”