ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The Miami Dolphins and their offense might have to get used to life without Knowshon Moreno. Based on Sunday’s 29-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills, it might not be pretty.

Moreno suffered an elbow injury on his first carry when he fell awkwardly on his left arm. His arm bent the wrong way and the injury was gruesome enough that Moreno was immediately ruled out for the rest of the game.

Now the question becomes: How many games will Moreno miss moving forward?

Although the Dolphins didn't give an official timeline and Moreno didn't speak to reporters after the game, media reports have already indicated Moreno could miss up to a month with a dislocated elbow. That would be a long month for the Dolphins.

The offense looked like a shell of its Week 1 self with Moreno out of the lineup against Buffalo. Miami, after scoring 33 points last week against the New England Patriots, was shut out in the first half and finished with just 10 points against Buffalo.

"Obviously, we'd love to have him, but you have to deal with those things," Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said. "They pop up in football. Injuries happen. So it didn't really impact the game plan. Other guys have to step up. That's football. If a guy gets injured you can't really alter things."

We are about to find out how important Moreno is to this Dolphins team. The free-agent acquisition quickly established himself as the heart and soul of the offense with his energy, intensity and consistent play.

Not coincidentally, the Dolphins lacked energy, intensity and consistency Sunday. Buffalo's defense quickly deflated the downtrodden Dolphins offense, which averaged just 3.9 yards per play.

The Dolphins couldn't run the ball with any efficiency without Moreno. Miami had just 80 rushing yards on Sunday after running for 191 with Moreno the previous week.

"We weren't even close to matching their intensity," Dolphins receiver Mike Wallace said. "We did a good job of playing football, but the [Bills'] intensity was so much higher than ours that I think that's why they won the game, honestly."

Wallace explained the mood of the offense when Moreno went down.

"I saw him on the ground. I know it wasn't good because he never really stays on the ground like that," Wallace said. "It was quiet for a little while, but it was early in the game and we had to keep playing. We definitely missed his intensity."

Moreno is just one player. But he brings a certain attitude and toughness to the offense that is hard to replace. The Dolphins will host the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3 and travel to London to face the Oakland Raiders in Week 4. Those are two winnable games before the bye week.

But winning those games will be tougher without Moreno. The Dolphins now will have to rely on Lamar Miller and rookies Damien Williams and Orleans Darkwa.

"As running backs and as an offense we can't really sit there and mope and cry about it," Darkwa said. "We just got to go out and do what we got to do as an offense and as running backs. ... As a group, we got to step it up."