A receive path of a communications system comprises an error-correction decoder, an error-detection decoder, and a codeword adjuster. The error-correction decoder performs error-correction decoding on a received codeword to generate a valid codeword. The error-detection decoder performs error-detection decoding on the valid codeword to determine whether or not the valid codeword is the correct codeword that was transmitted. If the valid codeword is not the correct codeword, then the codeword adjuster generates an adjusted valid codeword by applying an error vector to the valid codeword. The error-detection decoder performs error-detection decoding on the adjusted valid codeword to determine whether or not the adjusted valid codeword is the correct codeword. When the error-correction decoder generates an incorrect valid codeword, adjusting the valid codeword enables the receive path to recover the correct codeword without retransmitting or re-detecting the codeword.