HOUSTON _ The Miami Dolphins are making the turn on the 2018 with a mediocre 4-4 record and not much about this team is trending in a positive direction right now.
It's not so much that the team's roster is depleted. It's not so much that they're in the middle of their second two-game losing skid so far this season.
It's not even that starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill is injured and after patching things with backup Brock Osweiler for a while (two games, one of which the team lost) now the Dolphins are getting the much dreaded but predictable regression to mean by Osweiler.
It's just that this team is constantly springing leaks.
And the latest leak might sink this season.
The Dolphins defense is awful right now. Have you noticed?
You probably got the clue when the unit was blasted for 248 rushing yards on Sunday against Detroit. Defensive coordinator Matt Burke called that a "collectively crappy effort."
And you were convinced this is a major problem after Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson threw five touchdown passes, including throws of 73- and 49-yards, in this game.
After the 49-yarder to a wide open DeAndre Hopkins gave the Texans a 35-20 lead, Burke, full of frustration, threw his blue tablet coaches use to see pictures of plays on the sideline. And why not?
I'm sure Burke had no use for re-watching what he'd just seen live.
Because it was embarrassingly bad. I mean, guys running wide open bad. I mean, the Texans using the same overloaded offensive line that Detroit used to run the ball so well. And the Texans, four days later, also ran the ball with former Dolphin Lamar Miller.
So it was a complete defensive meltdown.
And what I suggest to you know that the Dolphins are .500 at this midpoint of the season is that Burke had better clean this up in the next two games against the New York Jets and at Green Bay because his job is at stake, folks.
The Dolphins won't say it now. Coach Adam Gase loves Burke.
But if Burke doesn't set this defense right and, say, Vance Joseph doesn't last in Denver, I would not be surprised if Joseph returns to Miami.
That, obviously, is not a right-now issue.
Well, the coaching staff working is not. The on-field performance is very much a right now problem.
And that's kind of surprising because we kind of figured the biggest problem the Dolphins would have in this game would come on offense.
And, make no mistake, those problems manifested. It's just that the work on defense was so disastrous that it made Miami's offensive flaws seem way less glaring by comparison.
But don't kid yourselves, folks.
The offense is not well, either.
The Dolphins on Thursday got what everyone expected before and that was the Brock Osweiler being Brock Osweiler game.
Osweiler, really good in his previous two outings for the Dolphins, had the dreaded regression to mean game. On a night the opposing quarterback threw five touchdown passes, the Dolphins quarterback answered with one interception.
That was it.
Osweiler wasn't awful. He didn't lose this game.
But when your recipe for a game is the quarterback does not help and the defense hurts you, there is no winning on the horizon.
Osweiler had some ugly moments in this one. No doubt about that.
He threw an interception in the first half and that led to a Houston touchdown.
He missed DeVante Parker for a TD in the third quarter when Parker was wide open behind the Houston secondary.
Osweiler's best pass of the night was a 46-yard completion Parker _ after, of course, the pass was deflected from Jakeem Grant and a defender and eventually landed in Parker's hands.
You knew this was going to be a bad evening when it seemed as if Danny Amendola's improbable 28-yard touchdown pass to Kenyan Drake was Miami's most impressive throw of the game.
So where does all this leave the Dolphins?
Well, they are truly trending in the wrong direction now.
One supposes Tannehill will be throwing pretty soon to test his injured throwing shoulder. And the Dolphins still hope he can play against New York two weekends from now.
That's all hope. There's no actual science to this. Doctors don't actually know Tannehill will be ready to play against the Jets.
And what if he can't?
The Dolphins are a team with a defense that has been lit up multiple times this year, including the last two games. And an offense with an uncertain quarterback situation.
No one is quitting on the season.
But the Dolphins future in the second half of 2018 doesn't exactly seem bright.
