A communication system includes a receiver configured to receive a packet that contains plural codewords, and a codeword failure detector cooperatively operable with the receiver. The codeword failure detector can be configured to detect a codeword failure in at least one codeword of the plural codewords as it is being received by the receiver, and to terminate reception at the receiver, when the codeword failure is detected before the end of the packet, to put the receiver into a power save mode for a duration of a remainder of the packet that contains the at least one codeword.