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.

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.

officially a touchback for the Texans, but man oh man was it close to a Bills touchdown pic.twitter.com/RG3OsyJZ3Q — Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) January 4, 2020

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:

The officials got together and correctly ruled that the runner had given himself up prior to tossing the ball to the referee. #BUFvsHOU — NFL Officiating (@NFLOfficiating) January 4, 2020

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:

Didn't see what happened on the touchback in the end zone but even if you don't down it, tossing the ball to the official or dropping the ball intentionally ends the play. You are deemed to have given yourself up. — Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) January 4, 2020

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.

End of Bengals-Bills was pretty interesting: Buffalo's Tre'Davious White picks off pass, doesn't get touched, appears to safety himself... but ruled down due to "giving yourself up" rule. Hurt Carson Wentz last week, helped Bills this week #Bills #Eagles pic.twitter.com/7yFabdt8IY — John Breech (@johnbreech) September 22, 2019

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 Bills got their special teams revenge on the refs pic.twitter.com/KjMUr8ijZA — Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) January 4, 2020

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!