PRO FOOTBALL / SEASON PREVIEWS : Rule Changes Are Meant to Increase Action, Scoring : NFL: Two-point conversions, more returns of kickoffs, better protection for passers and receivers and coaches’ radios are expected to help enliven games.

Notice to NFL fans this season: No more dawdling come game time; no more bathroom breaks until after the not-so-automatic conversion attempt; no more fantasy football league titles determined by long-range field goals.

“The rule changes we have this year are the most dramatic since I came into the game,” said Wayne Sevier, who coaches the Rams’ special teams. “We’re talking four major changes with the most drastic being the two-point conversion.”

* Rule Change 1: The opening kickoff now becomes mandatory viewing. It will be from the 30-yard line, rather than the 35. Instead of the ball being downed in the end zone on many kickoffs and brought out to the 20, now it usually will be returned.

“If a kicker put 20% of his kicks in the end zone last year and they weren’t returned, that was considered a great job,” Sevier said. “You won’t see anybody come close to that this year.”

* Rule Change 2: New kicking tees will further handicap the kickers and ensure more returns. Instead of elevating the ball three inches, which allows for more hang-time, kickers must use one-inch tees.

“With a three-inch tee you were looking at a good hang-time of 4.3 seconds,” said Tony Zendejas, Ram kicker. “Now, if you get anywhere around four seconds it will be a good kick.”

* Rule Change 3: Teams will now, in effect, be penalized seven-eight yards for missing a field goal from beyond the 20-yard line, because the ball will be spotted at the point of the attempt rather than the line of scrimmage. A year ago there were 120 attempts from 50 yards or beyond. Now, coaches might not be so quick to call on kickers, making more use of their punters.

“I think you’re going to see fewer long field goals,” Sevier said. “The better pooch punters become more valuable to their teams.”

* Rule Change 4: Teams will have the option to kick for one point after a touchdown or go for two on a run or pass.

“I don’t think you’re going to see many people go for it,” Sevier said. “But the minute somebody gets you with the two-point conversion, you’re going to look like an idiot.”

With that in mind, the Rams hired possibly the smartest special teams coach in the NFL, Sevier.

“We call him the czar of special teams,” said Joe Bugel, former Cardinal head coach and an assistant previously with Sevier in Washington. “Without a doubt, he’s one of the better ones, if not the best. What a tremendous motivator. He can take a good football player and make him a really great special teams player.”

Between successful tours of duty in Washington, Sevier resurrected the Chargers’ miserable special teams and made them tops in the league.

“I saw it from Day 1,” Zendejas said. “He demanded everyone’s attention and didn’t care if you were a star player or not. It’s unbelievable how attentive he is to every detail. Every individual knows exactly what he must do.”

Now, Sevier and other coaches must be prepared to handle the game as it changes.

Teams will need more speed on their kickoff coverage teams to keep the opposition from gaining a decisive field-position advantage. Speedy kickoff returners will have the opportunity to become household names.

“I think the teams that will come out of this the best in the return game will be the teams with the least amount of penalties,” Sevier said. “You will get some good field position on the kickoff return, but what will kill it will be the penalties.”

Zendejas kicked off 58 times last season, put the ball into the end zone 16 times and put it into the end zone deep enough to keep the opposition from returning it nine times.

“What I’m going to ask him to do (this season) is not place it, but get the best possible kick for us and then we’ll cover that kick,” Sevier said. “We’re just looking for the best combination of depth and hang time.”

The rule changes will also force coaches to make tougher decisions. Do they risk going for a 50-yard field goal and turning the ball over to their opponent at the 40 if the kicker misses?

“I’ve told Tony, ‘If you want to kick the 50-yarders, just make them,’ ” Sevier said.

Head coaches will have two-point conversion plays in their playbook. But will they use then? In college, if a team misses an extra point early, it usually goes for two after its next touchdown. Will the pros? If a team trails by one point with 12 seconds remaining, does the coach go for the tie, and take his chances in overtime, or the victory?

Besides the formal rule changes, there is another change--a coach-to-quarterback radio, the first regular-season approved field communication system. The quarterback has two small speakers mounted inside his helmet, but he can only receive, not send, transmissions.

An official, employed by the NFL, operates a cut-off box on the press-box level. The communication is turned off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock or when the quarterback breaks the huddle. This prevents a coach from changing the play after seeing the defense adjusting.

During the exhibition season, teams used the new system with mixed results. Some coaches don’t like it, fearing glitches and the possibility of opponents picking up their signals.

The NFL, however, claims that opponents cannot pick up calls because of an intricate scrambling system that prevents one team from intercepting the other’s communication.

Raider Coach Art Shell supports the new system and used it throughout the exhibition season.

“I know that some teams have not taken advantage of the system yet, but we use it all the time,” he said. “Every now and then, the signal breaks up a little bit, but for the most part, it is a positive for the game.”

The biggest problem according to Shell is that occasionally the quarterback pretends not to hear the call.

“Sometimes I do wonder whether (Raider quarterback) Jeff (Hostetler) can hear us and just says he can’t because he doesn’t agree with what we’re calling,” Shell said.

Another new field communication system, the Audiblizer, was used during the exhibition season but has not been approved for the regular season.

The system uses a cluster of loudspeakers, placed well beyond the sidelines, to amplify the quarterback’s voice. The speakers help override crowd noise, allowing the offensive team a fair opportunity once it gets inside an opponent’s 30-yard line.

The Audiblizer might be approved for the 1995 season.

To use it, the quarterback pushes a button on the side of his helmet. Three technicians behind the team benches deactivate the system after 25 seconds, upon the snap of the ball or the referee’s whistle.

The NFL tested the system in 20 exhibitions.

Times staff writer Lonnie White contributed to this story.

1994 NFL Rules Changes

The significant rule changes in the NFL for the 1994 season:

PACE OF GAME AND SCORING

* Coach-to-quarterback radio--Coaches can send in plays directly to their quarterbacks through radio transmission, resulting in better time management between plays that could mean, especially in noisy stadiums, a more efficient offense.

* Two-point conversion--Teams can now either run or pass for two points or kick for one point from the two-yard line. The two-point conversion rule was used in the American Football League from 1960-69.

KICKING GAME

* Kickoffs from the 30--The kickoff spot will be moved back to the 30-yard line (instead of the 35) and a tee of no higher than one inch will be allowed. More kickoffs will be returned.

* Spot of missed field goals--If a field-goal attempt is missed from beyond the 20-yard line, the ball will be brought back to the spot of the kick instead of the line of scrimmage. This seven-yard difference will reduce the number of long field-goal attempts.

PASSING GAME

* Chucking--Defenders are allowed to extend their arms to slow down a receiver (“chuck” him) only within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Enforcement will allow receivers to get into their routes quicker.

* Roughing the passer--Tighter enforcement of rule to penalize defenders for unnecessarily punishing a passer or hitting him after the pass is released (rather than after completion of throwing motion).

LINE PLAY

* Deeper alignment for offensive lineman--Lineman can now line up deeper off the ball, affording better pass protection for the quarterback. It also allows them to see the snap of the ball, which will help where crowd noise hinders hearing of the snap count.

* Restrictions on defensive players--To prevent the offense from being induced to jump off-side, if a defensive lineman enters the neutral zone and causes the offense to move, the penalty will now be called on the defense.