It was a tough go for road teams in Week 4. Squads away from home won just four of 11 games if we include Miami's triumph across the pond over Oakland -- a home game for the Raiders, according to the league schedule.
But those road victors included a resonating divisional win, and a very unlikely, thrilling conquest in a hostile environment, led by a quarterback with minimal experience. Here are Week 4's heroes staying in hotels.
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Greatest on the road...
Mike Glennon, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Going into Week 4, it was a dead heat between the Oakland Raiders and the Buccaneers for worst team in the league. Tampa Bay was thrashed on national TV against Atlanta in Week 3, and an injury to starting quarterback Josh McCown forced the Buccaneers to go with the backup.
Enter Mike Glennon.
In his first appearance of 2014, the second-year signal-caller was forced into action against the Steelers, a team that had just dominated Carolina in a 37-19 win. The odds of a Buccaneers victory were longer than Glennon's neck. But that didn't matter when Glennon and the Bucs' offense took the field at the Pittsburgh 46 trailing by four with 40 seconds left to play.
Glennon completed a pass to Louis Murphy for 41 yards, hurried the offense to the line and spiked the ball to put Tampa Bay on Pittsburgh's 5 with 15 seconds to go. Two plays later, Glennon found Vincent Jackson in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.
Glennon finished the day 21 of 42 for 302 yards and two touchdowns. Tampa Bay stunned the league with its first win of 2014.
Also considered ...
Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
Rodgers and the Packers came off one of the most disappointing weeks in recent memory. They were held to a mere seven points in a loss to Detroit, Packers fans across the nation were ready to pound the panic button, and a common line emerged: Rodgers just doesn't have the weapons he once had.
Yeah, so much for that.
The Packers took a four-point difference at halftime and blew the game wide open in the second half, thanks to two touchdown passes from Rodgers. The Super Bowl XLV champion tossed touchdown strikes of 11 yards to Jordy Nelson and 3 yards to Randall Cobb to put the game well out of reach for the Chicago Bears, securing a resounding 38-17 win.
The final stat line was vintage Rodgers: 22 of 28, 302 yards and four touchdowns. Nothing more needs to be said.
Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins
It's unintentionally become the week of the quarterback, but in the case of Ryan Tannehill, who can help it?
This isn't a vote of confidence in the Dolphins quarterback, because he still has plenty to fix in his development as a professional. But when his coach, Joe Philbin, spent all week practically shoveling coal into the raging fire of rumors surrounding his status as Miami's starter -- Tannehill had to name *himself* the starter in a press conference -- one could hardly expect such an emphatic performance.
Granted, it's the Raiders, a team that hasn't been very competitive for a decade and is currently dealing with whispers of a coach on a white-hot seat. But Tannehill proved his coach may have been thinking about pulling him a bit too early. The quarterback completed 23 of 31 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns as the Dolphinscompletely dominated the Raiders, scoring 38 unanswered points in front of 83,436 fans in London's Wembley Stadium. Plus, it looks like Tannehill is finally establishing a bit of a rapport with Mike Wallace, which is long overdue.
There will be no "Is Tannehill still Miami's starter?" discussion this week. He earned a week's grace period, at the very least.
