Listing the Pros and Cons of Each Announced Rule Change for 2012 NFL Season

The more the game changes the more it stays the same. Despite being an old cliche, that does hold true for the NFL.

However, much like every year, changes are made, and when the owners met earlier this week and according to Michael David Smith of NBC Sports, five on-field rules were changed.

To that end, here are some pros and cons to each change for the 2012 season.

Overtime - Same for regular season and postseason

Pros: No issues about the differences between how overtime games finish in the regular season and how overtime games finish in the playoffs.

Cons: It can still be a confusing rule, especially to the fans who don't regularly follow the NFL. The college overtime rule remains much better, and pro football should follow suit to become more exciting.

Kicking a Loose Ball - This penalty now includes a "loss of down"

Pros: There's no reason to kick a loose ball, so giving it more emphasis is good. Plus, the same rule exists in college, so it's becoming more universal throughout football.

Cons: Another judgment call, because this can happen by accident quite a bit with how oddly a football bounces. 

Too Many Men on the Field - Altered for both sides of the ball

Pros: Instead of breaking the huddle with 12 or more players, an offense can briefly lineup before getting set. So, this allows an offensive coordinator to quickly show a defense more personnel to ultimately find the mismatches.

Defensively, it's just a matter of whether the unit actually has 12 or more players lined up at the snap.

Cons: It's now a dead play for the offense. Before, if the defense lined up with 12-plus players it was just a free play, which basically gave the offense an extra down. Now, although an offense can potentially get a big mismatch, it comes at the risk of five yards, as the whistle will blow the play dead.

Defenseless Players - Now includes blindside blocks to the neck and above

Pros: Simply expanding the safety concern to defensive players who cannot be blocked anywhere at the neck or above.

This can go for any defensive player coming up to make a play on the edge of the line of scrimmage and an offensive player trying make a high block to the neck or above.

Cons: There are no cons to making the game safer. However, it would not be surprising to see more clipping penalties occur as a result.

Turnovers - Just like with all scores, all turnovers are now reviewed

Pros: There will not be any more disputes about turnovers and the right call has significantly increased odds for occurring. Also, coaches need not worry about challenging and can save the red flag for bad spots, catches and/or incompletions.

Cons: Really depends on how many total scores and turnovers happen each game. A sloppy game can turn four hours of football into five.

So, when hoping for that much-needed turnover, it's a double-whammy if your team coughs the rock back over as more of your time is also being taken away.

John Rozum on Twitter.