Huntley will get more practice reps than injured Tagovailoa ahead of Dolphins' must-win game at Jets

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — There are several unknowns for the Miami Dolphins entering their regular-season finale, beginning with their starting quarterback.

Coach Mike McDaniel said the Dolphins are in a “gray area” with Tua Tagovailoa after the quarterback was scratched ahead of Sunday's win at Cleveland because of a hip injury.

Tagovailoa's body didn't respond the way the team had hoped with the injury sustained in Week 15 against Houston, McDaniel said, and he doesn't know about the starter's availability the rest of the season.

“Where does that leave us? Firmly in the unknown,” McDaniel said Monday. He added that Tagovailoa playing against Cleveland wouldn't have been safe.

“It was not safe at all," McDaniel said, "based upon a litany of things that his body was vulnerable to as well as his inability to avoid and move within the pocket ... just leaving him really unprotected is the way that I would say, both on impact and the ability to avoid impact.”

This is for certain: If the Dolphins beat the New York Jets on Sunday and Kansas City wins at Denver, Miami is in the playoffs after starting the season 2-6. But that Chiefs win likely will have to happen without Patrick Mahomes and many other Kansas City starters, who are expected to rest.

Either way, McDaniel said his team's focus is squarely on the Jets.

“It’s a very clear message to the team that we’ve been afforded the opportunity to execute upon,” he said. “When you dig a hole within the season that you have to get yourself out of, and then you’re faced with the reality that you need to take care of business and you need some help, you learn quickly that any time spent on the help is not benefitting the desired goal.”

Tyler “Snoop” Huntley will get more practice reps than Tagovailoa this week, and McDaniel is preparing game plans for both contingencies.

Huntley gave McDaniel confidence in his ability to lead the team with a solid performance against Cleveland.

In his fourth start this season, Huntley completed 22 of 26 passes for 225 yards passing with one rushing touchdown and one throwing. It was by far his best start for the Dolphins after being signed earlier this season when Tagovailoa went on injured reserve with a concussion.

“I do feel good,” Huntley said after the game. "I actually feel more comfortable with these plays. So yeah, a couple weeks in the office definitely makes a difference.”

Miami's defense didn't allow a touchdown for the second time this season and forced two turnovers. Tyrel Dodson filled in for injured Mike linebacker Anthony Walker Jr., and the Dolphins' midseason pickup intercepted Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the second. Da'Shawn Hand recovered a strip-sack fumble of Thompson-Robinson in the third. Miami also did not allow Cleveland to convert a fourth down in four tries.

It's hard to imagine the Dolphins repeating Sunday's success against a team with more than Cleveland's three wins if they don't clean up the penalties. Miami has been heavily penalized all season and was flagged 11 times in the matchup, with five accepted against the offense.

Huntley. He was the first Miami player since Jay Fiedler in 2003 to have both a passing and rushing TD with 225-plus yards, while completing 80% of his passes without an interception. The comfort that Huntley displayed was evident to his teammates.

“Today’s game showed he can throw the ball on time, he can read defenses and he can also make plays with his feet,” Tyreek Hill said. “Him being able to do all that, and then also come into the locker room at halftime and then talk to the whole entire offense, telling us to pick it up a notch, shows the growth and just him first getting here and now. I was really impressed by that.”

The running backs. De'Von Achane, Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson all saw carries, but Miami managed only 74 yards on 2.7 yards per carry. The Dolphins' leading rusher on Sunday was Huntley, who had 52 yards on seven attempts including his rushing TD.

LT Terron Armstead appeared to reaggravate the knee injury he has played through all season and couldn't get past the second quarter. McDaniel said Monday that Armstead will “see what he can do" to play, but the team is preparing for rookie Patrick Paul to start. ... WR Jaylen Waddle (knee) did not play because of a risk of reaggravating his injury, but McDaniel said he was optimistic about his availability this week.

.500 — The Dolphins got to 8-8 with Sunday's win, their first time being .500 or better since starting the season 1-1.

The Dolphins will try to sweep the Jets for the second straight season when they play in New York on Sunday. They may have an eye on the Chiefs, who play at Denver during the same 4:25 p.m. EST window.

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Cleveland Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, left, is tackled by Miami Dolphins linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah (91) and defensive tackle Calais Campbell (93) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Da'Shawn Hand (90) reacts after recovering a Cleveland Browns fumble during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tyler Huntley (18) scores a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, right, greets quarterback Tyler Huntley (18) as he comes off the field during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, left, talks with head coach Mike McDaniel, right, before an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to use an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants, but said they must get a court hearing before they are taken from the United States.

In a bitterly divided decision, the court said the administration must give Venezuelans who it claims are gang members “reasonable time” to go to court.

But the conservative majority said the legal challenges must take place in Texas, instead of a Washington courtroom.

The court’s action appears to bar the administration from immediately resuming the flights that last month carried hundreds of migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The flights came soon after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act for the first time since World War II to justify the deportations under a presidential proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force.

The majority said nothing about those flights, which took off without providing the hearing the justices now say is necessary.

In dissent, the three liberal justices said the administration has sought to avoid judicial review in this case and the court “now rewards the government for its behavior.” Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined portions of the dissent.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said it would be harder for people to challenge deportations individually, wherever they are being held, and noted that the administration has also said in another case before the court that it’s unable to return people who have been deported to the El Salvador prison by mistake.

“We, as a Nation and a court of law, should be better than this,” she wrote.

The justices acted on the administration’s emergency appeal after the federal appeals court in Washington left in place an order temporarily prohibiting deportations of the migrants accused of being gang members under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act.

“For all the rhetoric of the dissents,” the court wrote in an unsigned opinion, the high court order confirms “that the detainees subject to removal orders under the AEA are entitled to notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal."

The case has become a flashpoint amid escalating tension between the White House and the federal courts. It's the second time in less than a week that a majority of conservative justices has handed Trump at least a partial victory in an emergency appeal after lower courts had blocked parts of his agenda.

Several other cases are pending, including over Trump's plan to deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally.

Trump praised the court for its action Monday.

"The Supreme Court has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself. A GREAT DAY FOR JUSTICE IN AMERICA!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site.

The original order blocking the deportations to El Salvador was issued by U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, the chief judge at the federal courthouse in Washington.

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of five Venezuelan noncitizens who were being held in Texas, hours after the proclamation was made public and as immigration authorities were shepherding hundreds of migrants to waiting airplanes.

ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said the “critical point" of the high court’s ruling was that people must be allowed due process to challenge their removal. "That is an important victory,” he said.

Boasberg imposed a temporary halt on deportations and also ordered planeloads of Venezuelan immigrants to return to the U.S. That did not happen. The judge held a hearing last week over whether the government defied his order to turn the planes around. The administration has invoked a “ state secrets privilege ” and refused to give Boasberg any additional information about the deportations.

Trump and his allies have called for impeaching Boasberg. In a rare statement, Chief Justice John Roberts said “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”

Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.

Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States peer through windows of an Eastern Airlines plane upon arriving at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)