The NFL has created or modified three new rules based on the New England Patriots 2014 Super Bowl run. The Patriots weren't the first team to take advantage of each of the rules (or lack thereof) in the 2015 season, but they were certainly blamed for the changes.
How about a fourth rule that won't be attributed to the Patriots because Bill Belichick proposed it himself?
According to Pro Football Talk, ESPN and the NFL "experimented" with cameras inside the pylons in the Bills-Browns preseason game. It's a great concept that, while not fully effective, will make officials better at making goal line decisions.
Of course, it was Bill Belichick who has been requesting these camera changes for the past couple of seasons. He's been rejected on the grounds of the potential costs of execution.
"Maybe we could have a bake sale, raise some money for the cameras. We could do a car wash," Belichick laughed back in 2014. "We just spent however many million dollars on the replay system. I mean, there's a thousand cameras in every stadium, so if somebody spills a beer on somebody we have it on record, right?"
The support for Belichick's proposal grew this past March, where Belichick exploded about the league's resistance to improving camera angles on crucial scoring plays. While Belichick's exact words are unknown, the general idea of his tirade boiled down to "Let me get this straight, we can bring this game to Brazil and effing China but we can't afford to put a camera in a pylon?"
Well, it looks like the league held a bake sale, or found some extra change in between Roger Goodell's couch cushions. Hopefully the cameras were enough of a success that they will spread across the league. I can't wait for the Ford Goal Line Review Presents the GoPro Goal Line Cameras, Sponsored by Fan Duel.