Pats rookie corner Terrence Wheatley, center, corralling Chad Jackson after a catch Monday, has been tested early and often.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

FOXBORO — Each year, every NFL team gets a visit from a team of NFL officials during training camp. The officials are on hand to answer any questions the players and coaching staff may have on new or existing game rules.

Yesterday, umpire Butch Hannah, side judge Laird Hayes and head linesman Phil McKinnely arrived here and met with the media to go over the new rules. In addition to being a former NFL player, McKinnely also is the game official Baltimore’s Bart Scott erupted at in the closing minutes of the Ravens’ loss to New England last season.

The most prominent change this season is the elimination of the force-out rule, which eliminates the judgment call officials had to make regarding whether a receiver would have landed inbounds had he not been pushed out by a defender.

Also, the five-yard facemask penalty has been eliminated. If a player clearly pulls, twists or grabs an opponent’s facemask, it will be flagged as a 15-yard penalty. Placing a hand on an opponent’s facemask and then letting go is no longer a foul.

Other changes include making field goals reviewable and changing the coin toss to give teams the option to defer their choice until the start of the second half, as is done in the college game.

While Bill Belichick has expressed concern over how his team will use the new defensive headset system, Hannah said the change doesn’t mean much for the officials.

“We are not sure how the speaker-system thing will work for the defense. It sounds like it will be pretty basic,” Hannah said. “Our job will be to make sure there is only one designated player with the little green dot on the back of his helmet in the game at a time. It’s an illegal substitution violation if we have two designated players in at the same time. I don’t anticipate that will happen often.”

For linesmen like McKinnely, getting rid of the force-out rule makes things a little easier.

“It makes it very simple: you have to catch the ball and have both feet down inbounds,” McKinnely said. “Before, you would have to worry about whether (a receiver) was pushed out of bounds or if he would have landed inbounds. Now it is very simple to rule on.”

Belichick said that with the force-out rule, he taught defenders to make a play for the ball. Now, he’ll instruct them to play the man.

Here and there

The Patriots held two practices yesterday, but the morning session was a walkthrough. Some notes from the evening session:

•Rookie corner Terrence Wheatley continues his baptism by fire, often lining up opposite Randy Moss, who returned to the field after missing Monday’s session. In seven-on-seven work, Wheatley was stride-for-stride with Moss but didn’t turn on the ball fast enough to break up a sideline pass. Later, he got a measure of revenge when he broke up a potential red-zone touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Moss; Moss won their final battle, a short pass from Matt Cassel at the three-yard line that Wheatley had no chance to get.

•In seven-on-seven drills, a pass from Brady was either too high for Sam Aiken or short of Benjamin Watson and ended up in the hands of Fernando Bryant, who continues to impress with the first-team defense.

•During one-on-one pass coverage with the running backs and tight ends going against the linebackers, 14-year veteran Marcus Pollard put a nice plant-and-go move on Larry Izzo; Tank Williams knocked down a ball intended for Stephen Spach, and Tedy Bruschi was flagged for mugging Kevin Faulk.

Harrison activated

The Patriots activated S Rodney Harrison off the physically unable to perform list yesterday, leaving nine players still on that list — LB Mike Vrabel, DE Jarvis Green, CB Ellis Hobbs, WR Wes Welker, G Stephen Neal, DL Mike Wright, C Ryan Wendell, LB Bo Ruud and T Oliver Ross. … S James Sanders, DE Richard Seymour, TE David Thomas, T Matt Light, T Anthony Clement, CB Jason Webster and LB Vince Redd were not on the field for the full-pads afternoon session. Light, Webster and Redd have not practiced since Saturday.

smanza@projo.com