If you thought the leading the by double digits at halftime in the first playoff game of 2020 was bizarre, things got a lot weirder when the second half kicked off.Up 13-0, the Bills took the field to kick off to the Texans to open up the second half. Kick returner waved off his blockers --
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letting them know he wasn't going to return the kick -- caught the ball and then nonchalantly to sed the ball to the official. The referee surprisingly treated it as a live ball and stepped away, which allowed the Bills to recover the fumble in the
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end zone for a touchdown.Check out what happened here: An NFL playoff team seriously forgot to knee the ball in the end zone & the officials let them off the hook Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) Usually, returners will call for a fair catch or take a knee in the end zone after they catch the ball, but Carter did neither. The officials quickly came together to discu s the original call, and moments later, head referee Tony Corrente announced that
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the ruling would be overturned. "After discu sion, it has been determined that the runner gave himself up," Corrente said. "Therefore, it is a touchback."The refs came to a "common sense ruling," as it was clear that Carter did not want to return the kick. While by rule it should be regarded as a fumble and touchdown, he is not the first kick returner this season to fail to either kneel or call for a fair
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catch on a kickoff.
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It could have been the nail in the coffin for the struggling Texans, who fell behind 16-0 before . But the officials decided to change their ruling. This i sue will surely be brought up in the offseason, as the will need to clarify what a player needs to do to end a return before it starts, and what "giving yourself up" means.
