Here's a pretty interesting story that has flown under the radar the past few days - the Washington Post is reporting that the league is considering a proposal to NFL team owners that would suggest allowing one defensive player on each team to have a communication device in their helmet, just as quarterbacks currently do in order to run the offense.  League officials hope that instituting such a rule would eliminate future incidents of stealing signals, an infraction for which the Patriots were heavily penalized after the first game of the season against the New York Jets (loss of first round draft pick, $250K team fine, $500K head coach fine), in spite of the fact that it has been widely admitted by other league officials, owners, coaches, personnel, players, etc. that teams have employed similar practices - and much worse - to gain a competitive advantage for years.  Under the new practice, defensive coordinators would be able to communicate directly to a single defensive player, presumably the defensive captain.  A similar rule nearly passed an owner vote last season, so the chances of the rule passing this season seem overwhelmingly favorable.  All league rule changes of this sort are subject to owner approval, meaning that a 3/4 majority (or at least 24 of the 32 owners) is required to enact the change.  It seems that such a move would ultimately prove beneficial to the entire league in light of the technological advances in the game over the past several decades.  It seems perfectly logical that if the offensive play-calling is done via coaches' headsets and quarterback communication devices, so too should the defensive play-calling be done that way not only because it will guard against potential cheating, but also because it just seems more efficient in general. 

Perhaps more importantly, other teams won't be able to have a flimsy excuse like stealing signals to fall back on when the Pats do go 19-0 next season.  The vote will come in late March at the league meetings.