On this Thanksgiving week, road teams played more like wild-eyed consumers on Black Friday, ripping half-off blenders out of the arms of children -- aggressive, but ultimately embarrassing. However, a few away teams were mighty thankful for some extraordinary performances. One from a future Hall of Famer, one from an unsung wideout and one from a Honey Badger.
Greatness on the Road winner
Adrian Peterson
Just because he does it every week doesn't mean he shouldn't be commended for doing so. The Vikings running back is already on pace for another Pro Bowl year, leading the league in rushing yards (1,164), attempts (237) and yards per game (105.8) despite missing all of 2014. He's single-handedly taken Minnesota to the top of the NFC North standings, and is running away with Comeback Player of the Year.
But most importantly, he's playing his best in the most vital of games. Following a disappointing performance against the Packers, Peterson ripped up the Georgia Dome turf in a matchup between two playoff-hungry teams. AD terrorized the Falcons' front seven all day en route to a 158-yard performance on a dominant 29 rushes. Peterson salted the 20-10 win away with a fourth-quarter 35-yard gallop to the end zone for his second touchdown on which he accelerated, a la 2012 Peterson, through the Falcons' secondary with no regard for human life.
Over the Vikings' past seven games, they have won six, and Teddy Bridgewater has thrown over 250 yards in just two games, one of them a division loss. Long story short: when Minnesota takes the ball out of Teddy's hands and thrusts it into Peterson's, good things happen. Just ask the Falcons.
Runners-up
Tyrann Mathieu
We'll continue to tout Tyrann Mathieu as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate after the Cardinals safety picked off a pass and drove the 49ers crazy all day with a team-leading 13 tackles, two passes defensed and a tackle for loss. One of the most versatile defenders league-wide, the Honey Badger continues to play the best football of his life for the surging Cardinals. Blaine Gabbert is no Tom Brady, or even Andy Dalton, but Mathieu's stalking of the 49ers quarterback demonstrated his potential to drive fear in the heart of signal-callers around the league.
Markus Wheaton
All this talk about Steelers wide receivers Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant being the top deep threat combo in the league, and Markus Wheaton goes ahead and posts one of the most spectacular wide receiver performances of the year. Considering his opponent -- the once-vaunted Legion of Boom -- Wheaton's 201-yard highlight reel outing is as impressive as Brown's 284-yard monster game at home against the Raiders.
The third-year wideout's career day was even more surprising because he had totaled 45 yards receiving combined in his last five games, hadn't gone over 72 yards all year and had never eclipsed 100 yards in his career. If it weren't for Russell Wilson's heroic performance in Seattle's 39-30 win over Pittsburgh, Wheaton would clearly be the top road player of Week 12. Alas, a wide receiver can only do so much.
