It's tough to win on the road. It's even more difficult to do so at Arrowhead Stadium, which features one of the NFL's great home-field advantages, and against a team that had opened the season 9-0.
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Greatest on the road ...
Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers
Rivers has four 4,000-yard passing seasons and two 30-plus touchdown seasons under his belt, but this might be his finest year. He's thrown for 3,381 yards, 22 touchdowns, eight interceptions and has a 106.6 passer rating (which would be a career high if he can maintain this level of play). On Sunday, Rivers dominated in a game that the Chargers absolutely needed to win in order to keep their playoff hopes intact. He did so against a Chiefs team that boasts a stingy defense and had up until last week not been defeated.
In a game that featured eight lead changes, Rivers threw for three touchdowns -- including the game-winner to Seyi Ajirotutu with 24 seconds remaining -- to deliver a shocking 41-38 win over the Chiefs at venerable Arrowhead Stadium. The win places the Chargers in a tie with five other teams at 5-6 and with the AFC's sixth-best record. Facing a 38-34 deficit with just more than a minute remaining, Rivers led the Chargers on a seven-play, 78-yard drive to victory. The score represented the eighth lead change of the game, which was the most in a single game since Week 17 of the 2011 season when a game between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions featured 11 lead changes.
The win over the Chiefs was the fifth time that Rivers had 300 or more passing yards in a game, the fifth time he had a passer rating over 100 and it was also his third game-winning drive this season (having pulled it off previously against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2 and Dallas Cowboys in Week 4). With his 392 yard passing, Sunday's victory was the fourth time Rivers had 390 or more yards passing in a game this season, tying him with Pro Football Hall of FamersDan Marino and Joe Montana for the most in a single season.
Also considered:
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tennessee Titans
One of those teams tied with the Chargers for the sixth-best record in the AFC is the Titans. The 23-19 victory over the Oakland Raiders at O.co Coliseum on Sunday vaulted the Titans -- by virtue of tiebreakers -- into the No. 6 playoff seed (if the season ended today).
Fitzpatrick's first win as starting quarterback of the Titans came in dramatic fashion ... with a game-winning touchdown pass coming with just 10 seconds remaining in the game. Despite a recent slump -- the team had lost two consecutive games (including a humbling loss that delivered the Jacksonville Jaguars' first win of the season) -- the Titans remain in the thick of the AFC playoff chase. With the win, the Titans damaged the playoff hopes of the Raiders, who had entered the day tied with the Titans with 4-6 records.
Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
Romo's latest late-game heroics tied the quarterback with Hall of Famer Troy Aikman for the most game-winning drives in team history. Romo now has 21 such drives in his career, and the latest put the Cowboys into the driver's seat in the NFC East.
Romo directed a 14-play, 80-yard drive to consume the game's final four-plus minutes to set up kicker Dan Bailey for a 35-yard field goal as time expired to give the Cowboys a 24-21 win over the New York Giants. As big of a win as it was for the Cowboys (they are now 4-0 in the division), it was equally as crushing to the Giants and their slim postseason aspirations.
Previous Greatness on the Road winners:
» Week 1: Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks
» Week 2: Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins
» Week 3: Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts
» Week 4: Tom Brady, New England Patriots
» Week 5: Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs
» Week 6: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
» Week 7: A.J. Green, Cincinnati Bengals
» Week 8: Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers
» Week 9: Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles
» Week 10: Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions
» Week 11: Matt McGloin, Oakland Raiders
Follow Jim Reineking on Twitter @jimreineking.
