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Patriots' Proposals Among NFL Rule Changes Up For Voting Next Week

BOSTON (CBS) -- The NFL is king of the American sports landscape, but that doesn't mean the sport is content to stay the same.

Instead, the league is always trying to fine-tune the rules and regulations, and that will continue next week, when the competition committee will make several proposals to the league's owners.

Among those proposals are four from the Patriots. According to The Boston Globe's Ben Volin, they are:

1. Moving the line of scrimmage on extra points from the 2-yard line to the 25-yard line.

2. Extending goalposts upward an additional 5 feet.

3. Permitting a coach to challenge any official's decision except scoring plays (which are already automatically reviewed).

4. Placing additional cameras on all boundary lines to supplement TV cameras and aid the officials with instant replay.

These are not surprising to see, considering the Patriots' recent history and Bill Belichick's outspokenness on some of the issues addressed.

Belichick famously confronted an official following a 2012 loss in Baltimore when a field goal appeared to possibly have sailed wide. The ball, however, was above the goal post's highest point, leading viewers, the officials, the players and Belichick to only be able to make a "best guess" on whether the field goal was actually good.

Belichick also said last season that he'd like to see the number of plays available for replay review to be expanded, and for years he's pushed for the need for increased technology on boundaries, especially on the goal lines, so that reviews of scoring plays and the like would be much easier to confirm on replay review.

As for the moving of the extra point, it's a topic that's received varying levels of support around the league, though NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal called it a "long shot" to change this year.

"[The competition committee] wants to move PATs to the 20-yard line during one week of preseason action in 2014," Rosenthal wrote. "This softer change has a much better chance of becoming a reality this summer, then the league could evaluate how it worked."

Also on the list of proposals would be changing the rules for injured reserve, making a player eligible to return from IR after six weeks. The league recently instituted a rule that allowed teams to designate one player to be able to return from IR.

Rich Shertenlieb and Dan Roche discussed the potential rule changes on Toucher & Rich:

Potential NFL Rule Changes

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