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)

The recent chronic delays and cancellations at New Jersey's largest airport have highlighted the shortage of air traffic controllers and the aging equipment they use, which President Donald Trump's administration wants to replace.

The Federal Aviation Administration is working on a short-term fix to the problems at the Newark airport that includes technical repairs and cutting flights to keep traffic manageable while dealing with a shortage of controllers. Officials are meeting with all the airlines that fly out of Newark starting Wednesday to discuss the plan.

But even before those problems, aviation was already in the spotlight ever since the deadly midair collision of a passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter above Washington, D.C., in January, and a string of other crashes and mishaps since then. The investigations into those crashes continue while the U.S. Department of Transportation tries to make progress on the long-standing issues of not having enough air traffic controllers and relying on outdated equipment. A U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday morning will focus on the FAA's efforts.

Twice in the past two-and-a-half weeks, the radar and communications systems that air traffic controllers in Philadelphia who direct planes in and out of Newark rely on failed for a short time. That happened because the main line that carries the radar signal down from another FAA facility in New York failed, and the backup line didn't work immediately.

So the controllers were left unable to see or talk to the planes around Newark Liberty International Airport for as long as 90 seconds on April 28 and May 9. The lines — some of which were old copper wires — failed a third time on Sunday, but that time the backup system worked and the radar stayed online.

The FAA's head of air traffic controllers, Frank McIntosh, said during the Senate hearing on Wednesday that he believes the planes remained safe because of what they had been directed to do beforehand, but acknowledged that 90 seconds is “a long disruption for a radar screen to go blank or not to be able to talk to aircraft.”

“I don’t believe there was a heightened significant danger to the flying public. But with that being said, from where I sit, we want to remove all risk to the flying public,” McIntosh said. “And that is what’s concerning to me is how do we remove any bit of that risk. And we need to make sure our contingencies are better placed.”

The first of those stressful outages prompted five to seven controllers to take a 45-day trauma leave, worsening the existing staff shortage at the Philadelphia control facility and prompting the FAA to limit the number of flights in Newark each day.

The FAA currently has 22 fully certified air traffic controllers and five supervisors assigned to Newark in the Philadelphia facility, but the agency wants to have 38 controllers there. Another 21 controllers are in training there, and 10 of them are certified on at least part of the area.

The FAA quickly limited the number of flights in Newark to between 24 and 28 arrivals and the same number of departures every hour to ensure the remaining controllers could handle them safely. At times when controller staffing is especially lean, like Monday, the FAA is limiting traffic even further. Before the problems, 38 or 39 flights would take off and land every hour in Newark.

McIntosh said at the Senate hearing that on Monday, there were only three controllers on duty in Philadelphia for about an hour because some had taken sick leave and others had unplanned leave. That put the facility well below the minimum of seven controllers the FAA wants and led to average delays of more than 90 minutes as the agency limited flights.

The meetings FAA officials are having with all the airlines starting Wednesday are focused on a plan that continues limiting takeoffs and landings to no more than 28 apiece an hour until at least mid-June. By then, a runway construction project should be wrapped up, and the controllers who took trauma leave would be scheduled to return. After that, the FAA has said it might be able to bump up the limit to 34 arrivals and 34 departures an hour.

Meanwhile, the number of flights a day must be cut because the airport can't handle everyone on the schedule. That's why Newark has generally led the nation in cancellations and delays in recent weeks — more than 100 flights were cancelled there Wednesday. After the FAA meets with the airlines, it will give them a couple of weeks to submit information in writing, so it won't issue a decision before May 28.

The FAA has been able to install new fiber optic lines at Newark airport and the two other major airports in the New York area — Kennedy International and LaGuardia — but those are still being tested and won't come online until the end of the month. Officials were able to update some computer software last week that kept the radar from going offline a third time on Sunday when the primary line failed yet again.

Longer-term, the FAA is also planning to build a new radar system in Philadelphia, so that controllers there won't have to rely on the signal piped down from New York anymore. But that might not be done for months, although officials are working with contractors to speed up that project. A third data line is also being added to the facility as an additional backup.

McIntosh said the FAA has similar systems all across the country with a main line and a backup line carrying radar data to controllers, “and we haven’t had a failure like this to this degree in my memory.”

The FAA has been working for a long time to hire more air traffic controllers to replace retiring workers and handle the growing air traffic. But it can be hard to find good candidates for the stressful positions, and it takes years to train controllers to do the job.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has made several moves to try to hire more controllers. The FAA is trying to shorten the time it takes between when someone applies to the air traffic controller academy in Oklahoma City and when they start, and the agency is also trying to improve the graduation rate there by offering more support to the students. The candidates with the highest scores on the entrance exam are also getting top priority.

The FAA is also offering bonuses to experienced controllers if they opt not to retire early and continue working to help ease the shortage.

More high-tech simulators are also being used at airports across the country, including Newark, to train air traffic controllers. The FAA said Tuesday that controllers tend to complete training more quickly when they use one of the 111 simulators it has.

“These new simulators give air traffic control trainees a high-tech space to learn, develop and practice their skills,” said acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau.

The Transportation Department plans to ask Congress for billions and billions of dollars to pay for an overhaul of the air traffic control system nationwide to replace the 618 radars, install 4,600 new high-speed connections and upgrade all the computers controllers use. The exact price tag hasn't been determined.

Duffy blames former President Joe Biden's administration for failing to upgrade the air traffic control system, but Congress first recognized the system was struggling to keep up with the growing number of flights as far back as the 1990s, so the problems go back decades — long before the Biden or first Trump administrations. Biden's former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has defended their efforts to upgrade some of the technology and expand air traffic controller hiring.

Some of the decades-old computer equipment that controllers rely on was on display at last week's news conference about the plan, which has drawn broad support from more than 50 groups across the industry. Duffy has used an assortment of colorful metaphors to emphasize how old the equipment is, saying the gear looks like it came off the set of the movie “Apollo 13” and comparing it to a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announces a new air traffic control infrastructure plan, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Chris Rocheleau, acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, left, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, right, speak about a new air traffic control infrastructure plan, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Travelers check into their flights at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)