Every year, the NFL and every pro sports league makes tweaks to its rules.  It's only natural, and it makes sense.  This upcoming season is no different, as the NFL made its changes a few months ago.  The surprising thing is, the changes help strengthen defenses.  That's crazy,  considering in recent years the NFL has made it a crime to lay a good hit on quarterbacks.  But the league apparently decided to help out defenses a bit.

We here at FanIQ don't want you watching week one, seeing one of the rule changes in action and reacting with confusion, so let us look at some of the rule changes and the impact they will make on Sunday football.

No More Force Out:  Is their really anyone who disagrees with this move?  The concept of the force out rule made some sense. In the past, if a receiver got less than two feet in bounds, but was knocked out of bounds by the defender (and would have gotten both feet in according the opinion of the official), than he would be given a completion. 

I understand that it's somewhat unfair for a receiver to get shoved out of bounds while in the air.  But the definition of a force out changed more frequently than the definition of a foul in the NBA, and because of this, it needed fixing.  This past offseason, the rule got completely tossed, which is great for defenders.  See a receiver near the sideline trying to make a catch?  Knock him out of bounds right as he's catching it.  Now the receiver HAS to get both feet in REGARDLESS.   So watch for defenders to play A LOT closer to their receiver when near the sideline.  No more inconsistent force out rulings to worry about.

Two Green Dots On the Field?: It was amazing to me that it took people a long time to figure out that the green dot on quarterbacks helmets meant that they could have a radio in their helmet.  The radio allows coaches to send in plays and other strategies to their quarterback.  I always found it unfair that the offense had a radio but not the defense.  Well that is no more.  Teams are now allowed to have defenders with a radio.  Two helmets are allowed to have a radio, but only one can be on the field at any given time.  About time; it's only fair that each side of the ball gets a guy with a radio helmet.

Goodbye Five Yard Facemask:  In the past, there were two facemask penalties.  If you grabbed and twisted the facemask to pull a player to the ground, you would get a 15 yard penalty.  However, if you just grabbed the facemask momentarily, you would get a five yard penalty.  No longer.  The five yard penalty got the boot, so feel free to grab a facemask.  The 15 yard penalty still exists for blatant facemasking, but now you don't get a penalty for just touching the facemask.  Good call; guys would get a penalty for accidentally touching the mask in the past.  Now only guys with intent to tackle with the facemask get the penalty.

These three changes definitely help strengthen defenses a bit, but there were two other changes worth mentioning that don't favor offense or defense.

The Phil Dawson Rule:  Remember last season when the Browns kicker had a game tying kick that crossed the crossbar and clunked off of the back part of the post?  Remember how the refs blew it initially but got it right after kinda reviewing it, even though reviewing kicks wasn't allowed?  The NFL put an end to this scenario happening again; you can review field goals now.  I can't understand why you couldn't before, but at least they fixed this oversight.

Defer The Coin Toss:  It's a rule that's been in college and high school for a long time.  Previously in the NFL, you win the coin toss, and you get to choose to kick, receive the ball, or defend a goal to start the game.  In college, if you won the toss, you had an extra option to defer the toss.  Meaning the team winning the toss decides that they want to be able to choose to kick or receive to start the SECOND half.  (Giving the team to lose the toss the choice to start the game)

Now, the NFL has the adopted the defer rule.  Personally, I don't think this really adds anything to the game, and is a bit pointless.  The coin toss shouldn't gain more importance in my opinion, especially since it already determines the winner of the game in overtime.

So these are the major changes for the upcoming NFL season.  For the most part, I believe the changes improve the game.  Do you believe these changes help or hurt the game?

NFL Rule Changes for 2008: [Suite101.com] 
FORCE OUT, FACEMASK RULES CHANGED: [ProFootballTalk.com]