11 Rules changes for upcoming NFL Season!!

1. Loose balls that could have been the result of a fumble or an incomplete pass are now subject to video review. Or, as it will forever be known, "The Hochuli Rule."

2. Video replay can be used to determine if a loose ball stayed in bounds or hit the sideline. This one stems from some weirdness in the NFC championship game when a kickoff was ruled to have gone out of bounds when it never had.

3. No more rekicks after an illegal onsides kick (someone on the kicking team touches the ball before it travels the necessary 10 yards, etc.). It immediately becomes the other team's ball. If you mess up an onside kick, you shouldn't be rewarded with a second chance to gain possession.

4. The draft order has been reworked to reflect playoff results, not regular-season results. The most commonly-cited instance here is that the Chargers beat the Colts in the '08 playoffs, and thus, advanced farther than they did, but the Chargers, after having gone 8-8 in the regular season, still pick way ahead of the Colts, who went 12-4 in the regular season.

5. There's a new waiver period during the first two weeks of training camp, and the postseason waiver period will begin after the NFL's final game, whether it's the Pro Bowl or the Super Bowl.

6. If a fumble or lateral goes out of bounds, the clock will stop only until the referee signals ready for play.


7. Forming a "wedge" on a kickoff return is no longer legal. If three or more players line up shoulder-to-shoulder within two yards of each other, it will be a penalty. Traditionally, kickoff return teams line up about four guys in a wedge in front of a kick returner, and tell them to stay lined up, run as fast as they can, and clear a path for the ball carrier. Meanwhile, the kicking team will send players down the field, running as fast as they can, with instructions only to hit the players in the wedge as hard as they can. If that sounds extremely violent to you, it's because it is. The owners determined it was causing too many injuries.

8. On onside kicks, the kicking team can't have more than five players bunched together. After reviewing tape, owners also concluded that too many guys were getting hurt on onside kicks. And it makes sense. You've got one group of guys that will be just standing there, waiting for the football, and a group of other guys running directly at them, just trying to take them out, one-by-one.

9. A blindside block cannot be delivered with a helmet, shoulder or forearm to an opponent's head or neck. That'll be a 15-yard penalty.

10. Contact to the head of a defenseless receiver will also draw a 15-yard penalty.

11. A defensive player on the ground may no longer lunge or dive at the quarterback's lower legs.  "The Brady Rule," 100 percent influenced by the perfectly legal hit that sidelined Tom Brady for a full year.