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Four games into the Kyle Orton era, there is little doubt that he has given the Buffalo Bills a better shot at making the playoffs than EJ Manuel. But where specifically have the Bills seen an improvement in their quarterback play? Let's identify three key areas: 1. In the fourth quarter: In terms of Total QBR, there is no better late-game quarterback in the NFL this season than Orton. His 87.9 fourth-quarter QBR is first in the NFL, as is his quarterback rating (132.5). Orton averages 9.21 yards per attempt in the fourth quarter, second only to Cincinnati's Andy Dalton. He has thrown five fourth-quarter touchdowns and hasn't been intercepted. Manuel, by comparison, had an NFL-worst 10.4 Total QBR in the fourth quarter in his four starts this season. His 6.77 yards per attempt in the final quarter ranks 21st. 2. On deeper passes: On passes thrown at least 15 yards downfield, Orton has the NFL's third-best completion percentage this season. At 54.3 percent, only Andrew Luck (56.2) and Drew Brees (55.6) have been more accurate on deeper passes. Orton has only thrown for two touchdowns on such plays, however; Luck and Brees have each thrown for five. It's still a considerable improvement from Manuel, who competed 38.7 percent of his passes thrown at least 15 yards downfield. That ranks 25th in the NFL. 3. On third downs: This is an area where the Bills could still use improvement -- they rank 27th in third-down conversion rate entering Week 9 -- but Orton has still performed better than Manuel in this area. He has a 60.4 Total QBR on third downs (20th in the NFL) compared to Manuel, who had an NFL-worst 5.8 Total QBR on third downs. Orton leads the NFL in both third-down completion rate (73 percent) and yards per attempt (11.27). Manuel had the NFL's second-worst third-down completion rate (50 percent) and ranks 26th in yards per attempt (6.9). Of course, everything isn't perfect for the Bills under Orton. There are a few components of the game where they've actually regressed under Orton: 1. When under pressure: Orton hasn't performed well when pressured this season. He has an NFL-worst 0.3 Total QBR when under pressure and ranks 26th with a 37.5-percent completion rate. Manuel's Total QBR when pressured was 2.7, which ranks 24th. He completed 43.2 percent of his passes under pressure, which ranks 16th, and averaged 6.73 yards per attempt, which ranks 11th. 2. On play action: One of the few bright spots for Manuel in his four starts this season was his success on play-action plays. He had a 68.1 Total QBR off the play fake, which ranks 17th in the NFL, and he completed an NFL-best 78.3 percent of his passes off the play action. When meeting with reporters earlier this week, Orton identified the play-action as one area where he could improve. He ranks 31st in the NFL with a 21.8 QBR on play-action, and his 61.5 percent completion rate ranks 17th. 3. On zone-read runs: According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Bills ran an NFL-high 49 zone-read plays through the first four weeks of the season, when Manuel was at quarterback. They had success on those runs, averaging 4.88 yards per carry. The Bills have yet to run a zone-read play with Orton at quarterback and their running game hasn't been the same. They've averaged 3.15 yards per carry since Week 5, third-worst in the NFL. "The read-option is a different aspect," offensive coordinator Nate Hackett said Tuesday. "I think we’ve had to make some transitions with Kyle being in there as a quarterback. Kind of your whole philosophy and things kind of have to change a little bit."
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