An apparatus, system and method for detecting errors in a physical interface during the transmission and/or receipt of data communications between integrated circuits (“ICs”) are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus is configured to operate as or within a receiving physical interface. The apparatus includes a decoder configured to decode a subset of encoded data bits to yield decoded data bits. It also includes a physical interface (“PI”) error detection bit extractor configured to extract a physical interface error detection bit from the decoded data bits. As such, the apparatus uses the physical interface error detection bit to determine whether the encoded data bits include at least one erroneous data bit as an error. In some embodiments, the apparatus includes an error detector configured to operate within a physical layer. In at least one embodiment, the apparatus efficiently transmits error detection codes within, for example, an NB/(N+1)B line coder.