Triggered by New England's constant grabbing and shoving of the Indianapolis receivers in the AFC Championship Game and a continued decrease in total passing yards, the NFL has instituted new tougher rules for the season.

Officials are going to every NFL training camp to emphasize to coaches and players that these rules will be strictly enforced. "It's going to be a huge topic [this summer]," said Mike Pereira, NFL director of officiating.

This means no more pulling, grabbing, chucking, knocking - anything to bump a receiver off his route - 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

Pereira also said "We want the offensive receivers to be able to run an unrestricted route beyond 5 yards, and we don't want him hooked or grabbed when he tries to get off the line of scrimmage."

Excerpts from this post from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

This rule change gives the Lions an advantage on both sides of the ball.

On offense, obviously we can utilize our speed at WR more as corners wont be able to slow them down once they get 5 yards off the line. Charles and Roy will be able to blow by corners and use their height/jumping ability.

On defense, both our corners are more finese than physical anyway so the Lions wont be penalized as teams starting corners (like the Pats) who are physical off the ball...

GO LIONS

I really like what this does for Charles and Roy. They are going to be HUGE benefactors of this rule change. And so will Joey for that matter, it's really good news for the Lions offense.