NFL 2015 schedule and results: Cardinals, Broncos improve to 3-0

Cleveland Browns fans could be heard chanting for Johnny Manziel to come in and replace Josh McCown during Sunday’s 27-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders, but those fans will be disappointed for at least another game. Head coach Mike Pettine said there was never a point in which he considered replacing McCown in the loss.

Pettine even had some praise for McCown following the game, which effectively ended when McCown threw an interception to Charles Woodson with under a minute to go.

The Chicago Bears have started this season off the same way they ended their tumultuous 2014 season: on a losing streak. Despite bringing in a new coaching staff during the offseason, the Bears are 0-3, fresh off their worst defeat yet in 2015. In Week 3, the Bears were shut out for the first time since 2002 in a 26-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

On Monday, new head coach John Fox tried boiling the team’s problems down to find the simplest solution. “We need to generate more than zero points to win games,” he told reporters, via Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune. “There’s no doubt.”

The San Francisco 49ers lost an unusually high number of players to retirement and even more to free agency this offseason, but none of those departures can explain why quarterback Colin Kaepernick threw four interceptions, including a pair of pick-sixes, in the team’s 47-7 loss to the NFC West rival Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

It’s true that the 49ers lost Anthony Davis and now use journeyman Erik Pears at the right tackle position. And yes, current Raiders wide receiver Michael Crabtree was nothing if not a reliable target, while Frank Gore -- now with the Colts -- is considered the best running back in 49ers history.

“I was rolling out trying to string out the play and create some type of opportunity to get a completion and the defensive linemen, you know, kind of hit me. It was close. It was right on the cusp,” Newton said in the postgame press conference. “Was it a late hit? I don’t know, but the response that I got was ‘Cam, you’re not old enough to get that call.’”

“I didn’t think you had to have seniority to get a personal foul or anything like that,” Newton said. “You just have to be accountable. It’s one thing to be frustrated in a situation where you see a personal foul on the opposing quarterback get called, and then for me when it’s something and the same range and for that flag not to be called, I’m ticked off, really.”

On Monday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Watkins is “day to day” with a mild sprain.

Coming into Sunday’s game, Watkins had caught six passes for 60 yards and a touchdown on the year. He had one reception for 39 yards before leaving Sunday’s game. As a rookie last season, Watkins had 65 receptions for 982 yards and six touchdowns.

SB Nation presents: A.J. Green put the Bengals on his back against the Ravens

First things first: The NFL still doesn’t know what a catch is

WHAT IS A CATCH: The NFL still has no idea what constitutes a catch, even after messing around with the semantics of the rule book this spring. Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert scored what looked like a touchdown. Except it wasn’t, and he joins Calvin Johnson and Dez Bryant on the list of aggrieved receivers. The NFL clarified the call, but it doesn’t change the fact that the rule sucks.

ROETHLISBERGER OUT: Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger will reportedly miss 4-6 weeks of action with a sprained MCL. Backup Michael Vick takes over. Pittsburgh does have Le’Veon Bell back now, and he was shredding the Rams defense Sunday afternoon.

Detroit Lions cornerback Darius Slay has been in the NFL since 2013 and developed into a solid starting corner. Certainly good enough to not get picked on and abused by opponents. Except that’s exactly what happened to him on Sunday Night Football and it happened despite Slay’s best efforts.

First, Demaryius Thomas soared above Slay to snatch a ball away from his grasp and score a touchdown.

The Denver Broncos improved to 3-0 after a 24-12 win on Sunday night over the Detroit Lions, who drop to 0-3 on the season. Peyton Manning threw for 324 yards and two touchdowns, while Demaryius Thomas had another big game with nine catches for 92 yards and a score.

The first half started off as a mostly dull affair, with neither team able to move the ball and trading off punts and turnovers. The most notable event of the first quarter was when Broncos running back C.J. Anderson left the game with a concussion after a bad helmet-to-helmet collision.

The Sunday Night Football game between the Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos has many people snoring because of its slow pace.

But no worries! Emmanuel Sanders just woke everyone up—especially cornerback Darius Slay—with his spectacular extension and catch. Both players are in air-bound and in position to get the reception, so it’s basically up to who wants it more.

The second set of Sunday games didn’t provide quite the same level of excitement as the matinee. The Bills, Cardinals and Seahawks all marched to easy wins over their opponents. The closest game of the bunch was Seattle’s 26-0 shutout of the Bears.

The Cardinals intercepted Colin Kaepernick four times, including a pair of pick-sixes on his first two throws of the game. Larry Fitzgerald had his second 100-yard receiving game in a row, finishing the day with 134 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Chris Johnson had 110 yards on the ground and scored twice.

Demaryius Thomas was just tying to get a first down. Except that effort resulted in a fumble that initially looked like a fumble that was recovered by the defense for a gratifying touchdown. Only the tumbling, rolling Thomas was ruled down.

After a review, the ruling was reversed. But, because of the whistle, the Lions did not get the touchdown. Instead, they got the ball on the 29-yard line. Fortunately for Detroit, they went on to score a touchdown and all was well. Well, except for Thomas and the Broncos.

The NFL adopted new rules regarding extra points in 2015, most notably moving the extra point try from the 2-yard line to the 15-yard line. The rules were also adjusted allowing the defense to score two points if they return a failed try all the way back to the other end zone. Both rule changes came into play on Sunday Night Football and made for some interesting moments.

First, the Broncos blocked a Detroit extra-point attempt and Chris Harris Jr. was off to the races. He initially broke through and it looked like he may be the first defender to score a conversion under the new rule.

Following the game, Roethlisberger was spotted on crutches with a brace around his knee.

Below is the play that caused the injury:

Matthew Stafford made a very poor throw. The type of throw that usually results in an interception at best and a defensive touchdown at worst. Except Matthew Stafford is teammates with Calvin Johnson and Calvin Johnson does things like this.

High and behind him and Johnson somehow hauls it in with relative ease. There are a lot of great receivers in the NFL, but Johnson just issued a friendly reminder not to forget about him.

Denver Broncos running back C.J. Anderson left Sunday night’s game against the Detroit Lions after a collision on the field. He was taken to the locker room and evaluated for a possible concussion, but passed his tests and later returned to the game.

Anderson took a nasty helmet-to-helmet hit from Lions defensive lineman Darryl Tapp late in the first quarter. He laid on the ground for a few minutes while being attended to by trainers, walking off the field under his own power. Ronnie Hillman replaced Anderson as the Broncos’ starter in the backfield while he was out.

Last week, Cam Newton had an amazing flip that resulted in a touchdown. Now, he and his Carolina Panthers are 3-0 after beating the New Orleans Saints, but more importantly—what are those!?

Are those leopard slippers?

The Chicago Bears had a not so good, really bad, terrible, awful, horrible Sunday in Seattle. The stats from the game are just embarrassingly pathetic.

That is a lot of really bad things, and it’s why Chicago lost 26-0 and was shutout for the first time since 2002. The entire state of the Chicago Bears can be summed up by one Vine.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson had to gain a few inches for a first down in the fourth quarter, but things started to look bad as soon as the ball was snapped.

Wilson evaded a sack and gently lobbed it to his receiver, which is great, but Pete Carroll could not watch a second of the initially agonizing play.

When: 8:30 p.m. ET

Where: Ford Field, Detroit, Mich.

The Arizona Cardinals are off to an impressive start in the 2015 season and are punctuating that hot start by crushing NFC West rival San Francisco. Arizona jumped out to a 28-0 lead and led 31-7 at halftime. For some teams, that would be a good enough start to put it in cruise control and come away with a simple win.

Not Bruce Arians.

He was listed as questionable for the game with a calf injury, did not start the game as he needed more time in the locker room with the training staff, and then eventually came into the game later. He had five carries for 14 yards before leaving the game again and officially being declared out by the team in the third quarter of play.

Not much will be expected of Seattle’s running game without Lynch. It’s unclear if he sustained the hamstring injury at some point in this game or if his issues prior to the game were related and things simply didn’t feel right when he took the field.

Brandon Marshall recorded a rare first down for the Jets against the Eagles, but as he was getting tackled, he did something you don’t really see often: He tried to lateral the ball, pitching it off Connor Barwin’s face, after which Eagles LB Jordan Hicks picked it up.

There was a brief debate as to whether Marshall was down, but, nope. He was clearly throwing the ball before his knees hit the ground.

Age is also certainly not stopping him from talking trash about defensive backs before and after he owns them. This is what he had to say after his go-ahead touchdown with four minutes left.

If you need a translation: