Since 1994, NFL offenses have enjoyed the luxury of having one player on the field (generally the quarterback) who could communicate with the sideline via a radio transmitter implanted in his helmet while defenses were not afforded this advantage... until now that is. During Tuesday's meeting between team owners, a rule was approved that will allow one defensive player on the field to have a communication device at his disposal as well.

The rule, which many feel will help avoid another Spygate-type of scandal from hitting the league since coaches will no long have to signal in the plays from the sideline, passed by a 25-7 vote, narrowly surpassing the 24 votes needed for approval. Teams voting no included the Buccaneers, Eagles, Packers, Raiders, Rams, Redskins, and Seahawks.

Ironically, one of the rules strongest supporters has been the Patriots’ Bill Belichick, whose team has been the focus of Spygate since early in the 2007 season.

"I’ve been in favor of that since the coach-to-quarterback system went in,” Belichick told NFL.com's Vic Carucci. “I felt that the equitable way to do that should be to have the same kind of system on defense."

Obviously the league has been more focused on generating offense over the past decade, but it only makes sense that both sides of the ball are on equal footing when it comes to communicating with the sideline. Of course, this could cause some problems on the defensive side because of the specialization that results in multiple substitutions based on game situations. Therefore, the player sporting the communication device will have to be someone who is an every-down player.

That may not be an option for some teams, though, which means most likely they will have either a linebacker or a safety wired depending on the personnel groupings. That also means that they will have to be careful not to have two players with communication devices on the field at the same time.