Weird toad response

Sooo, I've caught a lot of toads. Normal reaction from them when they know they've been spotted is to puff up, make themselves look like body builders, etc. The toad in the pic did the opposite and it saved its life. I was mowing the lawn and noticed that when it heard the mower, it squished itself into the grass...deflating and flattening it's body. I stopped the mower, it came back up to look/walk around. Started the mower, flat toad. Crazy. I wonder if it's an adaptation and what else it's good for besides lawn mowers...