Postseason games are unaffected, and other overtime rules remain unchanged. A team can win with a touchdown on the opening possession of overtime. If a team kicks a field goal on the opening possession, its opponent gets a possession with a chance to tie with a field goal or win with a touchdown — provided that the now-shortened overtime session doesn’t expire first.

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The rule takes effect for the upcoming 2017 season.

Proponents of the measure portrayed it as a player-safety measure. They said they in particular wanted to avoid a scenario in which a team could play a Sunday game with a full 15-minute overtime and then have to play again on a Thursday night.

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The proposal was considered by the owners in March in Phoenix during the annual league meeting. No vote was taken then. But the competition committee remained in favor of the measure and the owners took it up again Tuesday.

There were two tie games league-wide last season, one between the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals and another in London featuring the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals.

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Supporters of the measure also pointed out that tie games actually serve to simplify matters at the end of the regular season, leaving fewer teams with identical records subject to postseason tie-breaking procedures.

The owners also approved a proposal enabling each team to activate two players from the injured reserve list per season rather than one.