Bills Can't Always Rely on Defense, Kyle Orton Must Let Buffalo's Weapons Shine

The Buffalo Bills could have left South Florida with a victory. They could have been 6-4 instead of 5-5. But on Thursday Night Football, their offensive weapons were held in check thanks to the play of their quarterback, Kyle Orton.

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Earlier this year, Orton was the man head coach Doug Marrone called on to come in and replace second-year QB E.J. Manuel. Since he effectively ended Manuel's brief run as a starter against the Detroit Lions in Week 5, Orton has completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 1,387 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions.

Thursday night, though, was a different story. The veteran came down to Miami and looked nothing like the quarterback who helped the Bills win three games.

What we saw this evening was a grossly inaccurate passer at work. When you go out and complete 22 of your passes on 39 attempts for 193 yards and zero touchdowns, it doesn't matter how good your defense is. Numbers like that make it nearly impossible to win football games in the NFL.

To be fair, the Dolphins defense was aggressive and impactful from the get-go. But they weren't completely shutting the Bills out.

One of the biggest problems was the fact that Orton couldn't establish a rapport with rookie wide receiver Sammy Watkins. Watkins finished the game with a disappointing three receptions for 32 yards on seven targets.

At one point, that lack of correspondence between the two may have cost the Bills a touchdown.

On a 2nd-and-6 play with 10:06 left in the game, Watkins blew past Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes and flew down the sideline. Orton picked it up right away and lofted the ball down the field. Instead of hitting Watkins in stride, he overshot him by a considerable margin.

Down 19-9 at the time, a play like that could have swung the momentum back to Buffalo's side and ultimately changed the outcome of this crucial AFC East conflict.

That example was indicative of Orton's night behind the wheel. He was off-kilter from the opening whistle, which meant his offensive weapons barely had a chance to showcase their skills.

Games like this make it painfully obvious that even though he's an upgrade from Manuel, Orton is still a journeyman QB.

Chris Trapasso of NFL.com tweeted his take on the issue:

One thing the Bills have done right is build a sufficient defense. Prior to this game, that defense was the seventh-best unit in the league by Pro Football Focus' count (subscription required).

Even with the final score being 22-9, they competed the whole way through and made waves against the Dolphins.

Pass-rusher Mario Williams was especially devastating. Coming off the edge, he made life miserable for Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill, finishing the night with 3.5 sacks and four QB hits.

That's great, and it has certainly helped the Bills win five games, but without a competent quarterback dispersing the ball to his offensive flunkies, it means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

We can't totally throw Orton under the bus. He has gone out and played well in previous appearances. But this was one game the Bills really needed to win. This was the type of game you lose sleep over. This was a divisional showdown.

Tonight, the Bills got what some might say they overpaid for: a 31-year-old signal-caller with a low ceiling. Yahoo Sports' Shutdown Corner blog put the whole Orton narrative into one timely tweet:

Marrone made the right decision swapping Orton in for Manuel. That move alone has not only helped the development of Watkins, but it also has allowed guys like slot receiver Chris Hogan and Robert Woods to get more involved.

This is a young wide receiving corps. It doesn't take 350 yards and four touchdowns a game to get things going. All it takes is hitting them when they're open and making the throws you're supposed to make.

Can Orton find a way to bounce back? That answer may be up in the air. According to ESPN's Mike Rodak, he suffered a toe injury in the Thursday Night Football loss:

Regardless of what transpires next, it's time to give this defense a break. Lord knows they deserve it.

Unless noted otherwise, all game scores and information come courtesy of ESPN.com.