ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- It's hard to downplay the Buffalo Bills' losses of C.J. Spiller (broken clavicle) and Fred Jackson (groin), who will both be out for at least Sunday's game against the New York Jets.

Yet there is an important piece of context that should be part of the discussion: The Bills' ground game has been brutal in recent weeks, even when Spiller and Jackson were healthy.

Since Kyle Orton took over as the Bills' starting quarterback in Week 5, just 22.3 percent of the Bills' total yards on offense have come from rushing. Only the Atlanta Falcons (21.3 percent) and the Washington Redskins (19.2 percent) have received less contributions from their backfield over that time.

The Bills have also opted for runs on just 31.7 percent of their plays since Orton took over. That's the third-lowest rate in the league, more than only the Chicago Bears (31.5 percent) and the Falcons (26.1 percent).

There is a chicken-or-the-egg argument about why this is the case. Are the Bills running less because they are behind in games, or are they behind in games because they can't run?

Consider this: The Bills have averaged 2.62 yards per carry in the first quarter of their three games since Orton took over, which is the fourth-worst mark in the NFL.

At that point in the game, the score is inconsequential to run-pass balance, so their lack of rushing production is not a case of the Bills running less because they are behind on the scoreboard. In fact, they have rushed on 41 percent of their first-quarter plays since Week 5, which is just about the NFL average (42.8 percent).

In other words, the Bills' poor ground game has been a contributing factor to them falling behind on the scoreboard, not just a result of it.

The pressing question now is if substituting Anthony Dixon and Bryce Brown into the lineup will make the problem worse or actually alleviate the Bills' struggles.

If it's the latter, then this is a change that surprisingly has a chance to benefit the Bills.