One of the inspirational parables written onto walls of the Dolphins' locker room reads: ``Water Gets Hot at 211 Degrees, Water Boils at 212 Degrees, From Boiling Water Comes Steam, Steam Can Power a Locomotive.''

The lesson might go without saying, but does not.

''That 1 Degree Makes a Big Difference,'' the wall informs the players.

They were reminded in Houston on Sunday. They lived the lesson. Miami failing to stop a 3-yard quarterback draw on fourth down in the last seconds was the Dolphins' 1 degree of separation between triumph and defeat -- and in a larger sense between buoyant hopes of a playoff season and those hopes dashed and crashed.

I don't buy it. Don't buy that one 29-28 loss on the road serves as any reliable reality check indicating the Dolphins and their fans must now droop chins and revert to modest preseason expectations of maybe four or five wins.

It doesn't make much. Miami would be the same team today, and in nearly the same situation in terms of playoff picture, whether Matt Schaub scored that touchdown or whether a Dolphins defender materialized to heroically stop him.

Win or lose Sunday on that last play, Miami came out of the game a fiercely competitive team, flawed but dangerous.

The difference between a 2-3 record and 3-2 isn't much. Not this early in the season. Not with Miami's schedule from here rife with winnable games. And not in a wide-open AFC full of flawed teams, a conference in which 3-2 makes the playoffs if they began today.

That means the Dolphins are one game off playoff pace with 11 to play, six of them at home, and six of them against teams that are today a combined 8-23.

The people ready to abandon the bandwagon now are the same ones who would be leading it had somebody tackled Schaub.

Some team is going to get in the playoffs at 9-7; you don't concede at 2-3.

The caveats are many, because the flaws are many. Every AFC team has them, except (so far) Tennessee.

FILLING HOLES

Miami needs to dump the defense that showed Sunday -- the one that repeatedly got beat deep by Schaub and Andre Johnson -- and replace it with the defense that so humbled mighty San Diego. (Neither performance was a fluke. Potential is there but proof is a license that expires every week and must constantly be renewed.)

Dolphins special teams coach John Bonamego better start coaching like his paycheck depended on the next game, because his units have been awful.

Miami should consider deploying its Wildcat offensive alignment more, considering the big payday potential seen again Sunday in Patrick Cobb's 53-yard TD catch. (In three games since its unveiling only 26 of the team's 174 offensive snaps have been out of the Wildcat.)

Of course the big problem on offense isn't the lack of Wildcat. It is the lack of Ted Ginn Jr., Ernest Wilford and Derek Hagan -- expected to be the club's three leading wide receivers entering the season.

Those three have been closer to Mo, Larry and Curley in the way they have taken a pratfall on the depth chart. It is stunning how the Dolphins are getting so little from them.

Ginn is the parting gift of Cam Cameron, the 1-15 coaching bust whom Miami will host this coming Sunday in his new role as Baltimore's offensive coordinator. Call Ginn the gift that keeps on not giving. In five games he has produced 129 yards receiving and zero TDs. From an overall top 10 draft pick. From someone with the speed (allegedly) to be a deep threat.

Hagan has three catches. Not Sunday. All season! On Sunday he was inactive.

Wilford, the pricey free agent who certainly looks the part at 6-4, also was inactive Sunday -- his signing the biggest misstep so far of the Bill Parcells reconstruction. Wilford has one more catch this season than your dog Bobo.

Coach Tony Sparano defended Ginn, saying Monday, ''I wouldn't say that he hasn't produced much. Last week it was Ted Ginn week.'' He meant Ginn's seven catches for 55 yards against San Diego. Have expectations sunk that low? That a 55-yard game is ``Ted Ginn week?''

Of Hagan and Wilford, Sparano said, ''right now it's not their turn.'' Hmm.

HELP WANTED

The Dolphins need a receiver to stretch the field, but it shouldn't mean a trade. It should mean Ginn, Wilford or Hagan -- even just one of them, please -- starts playing up to the quality that was hoped for, instead of playing like guys headed out of the league.

There is no reason the Dolphins cannot be a team contending for a playoff spot this season. Still. As is. Flaws and all.

Should Ginn, Wilford or Hagan give up their spectator's seats and come along for the ride, all the better.

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