The Texans avoided disaster in the opening kickoff of the second half of Saturday’s wild card playoff game against the Bills. Houston was receiving the opening kick, and the ball sailed deep in the end zone.
Here’s why the refs took away a Bills TD on a Texans kickoff mishap
This was almost disastrous for the Texans in the second half.
Instead of catching it and taking a knee, returner DeAndre Carter made a signal with his hands, caught the ball, then tossed the ball on the ground over to the referee. The Bills, thinking it was still a live ball since Carter never took a knee for the touchback, recovered the ball, and it was ruled a Buffalo touchdown.
That would’ve given the Bills a 19-0 lead, which would have been brutal to the Texans’ comeback hopes. Houston eventually pulled it off, taking the lead late in the fourth quarter and then winning in overtime. That made the official’s decision to take away the touchdown at the beginning of the second half even more consequential.
The refs huddled to discuss the play and concluded that the receiver “gave himself up” and the play was a touchback. When Carter makes the “safe signal” with his arms out by his side, one that alerts his teammates they don’t have to block for him since he isn’t returning it, the refs ruled that signaled that he was giving himself up. Even the NFL’s officiating crew confirmed via Twitter that this was the right call:
This makes sense — Carter clearly wasn’t going to make a return on the ball by tossing the ball to the ref. According to Fox Sports’ Mike Pereira, tossing or dropping the ball ends the play, anyway:
The Bills were beneficiaries of the relaxed definition of a player giving themselves up when Tre’Davious White caught a game-ending interception early in the 2019 season.
Essentially, common sense prevailed in both situations. The Texans still went three-and-out on their opening possession, but this would’ve put them down three scores early in the second half had this score stood.
The Bills’ special teams got some revenge on the refs on an ensuing Texans punt, though:
The Texans are probably grateful how the refs handled this one, to say the least. You don’t see something like this happen too often, that’s for sure!
