CPU fair catches on punts inside the 20

[k1ngofny]

I just had a bizarre incident where my CPU punt returner had a punt literally bounce right off of him and into the endzone where I still recovered, but ended up tackled for a safety. It was around the 10 yard line where often times the returner won't even catch it and just lets it bounce. Although in this case, he seemed to change his mind at the last moment and hurried back to attempt to field it. It wasn't a muffed catch, it's like the catch animation just never triggered and the ball hit him on the head.

Which leads to my second point of wanting the returner to catch these punts because it seems that I get pinned inside the 3 or 2 yard line too often for my own liking. Sure it may go into the endzone for a touchback, but I'd rather play it safer and just take it at the 10.

Do I have to manually catch it and risk the above situation happening again? (Even though that was all CPU.)

[Zack317]

I've read that the CPU will almost always try and catch the punt if you dont control them.

So I just switch to them everytime and then decide for myself if I want to catch and return it or just call a fair catch

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[timhere1970]

What I have noticed when i control the returner and decide to not catch it and get out of the way i somehow get suctioned backward into a catch animation. This is not an everytime thing.

[purplerat]

Quote: Originally Posted by timhere1970

What I have noticed when i control the returner and decide to not catch it and get out of the way i somehow get suctioned backward into a catch animation. This is not an everytime thing.

If you have the returner selected as your user controlled player but do not move him yourself the game will automatically have him try to field the ball presumably because the game thinks you want to attempt a return. A punt can go all the way out the back of the endzone and still your player will run towards it as if he is going to attempt a return.

If you don't want to attempt to catch the ball you need to run the return man away from it and don't stop movie him until the ball hits the ground. Otherwise the game may still move him to try and field it. You can also not select the returner and leave it entirely up to the CPU as to whether to try and field the kick or not. Generally they seem to make good decisions.

Probably the worst thing to do is to switch to the returner after the kick when the AI has decided not to field it. Doing so without manually moving him will cause the CPU to run your player back at the ball even after having moved away leading to a very high chance of a muffed punt.

[reyes the roof]

My returner acts like the ball is covered in anthrax any time a punt is inside the 20

[threattonature]

Quote: Originally Posted by k1ngofny

I just had a bizarre incident where my CPU punt returner had a punt literally bounce right off of him and into the endzone where I still recovered, but ended up tackled for a safety. It was around the 10 yard line where often times the returner won't even catch it and just lets it bounce. Although in this case, he seemed to change his mind at the last moment and hurried back to attempt to field it. It wasn't a muffed catch, it's like the catch animation just never triggered and the ball hit him on the head. Which leads to my second point of wanting the returner to catch these punts because it seems that I get pinned inside the 3 or 2 yard line too often for my own liking. Sure it may go into the endzone for a touchback, but I'd rather play it safer and just take it at the 10. Do I have to manually catch it and risk the above situation happening again? (Even though that was all CPU.)

I just want to say that I hate you lol. I've never seen this happen to me in all the time I've put in to the game this year. I read this thread and the exact same thing happens to me. The CPU player runs backwards to field it at the last second and it bounces off his head into the end zone where I'm tackled for a safety.

Punt returns have been an annoyance of mine in Madden for a while. I've had some kicks where the ball lands around the 30 with no one within 20 yards and my return man will run away from the ball. Or it'll look like my guy is in position to catch and return the ball around the 10 yard line with no one in sight and at the last second he'll sprint up the field instead of returning it.

[travis2x]

Quote: Originally Posted by k1ngofny

I just had a bizarre incident where my CPU punt returner had a punt literally bounce right off of him and into the endzone where I still recovered, but ended up tackled for a safety. It was around the 10 yard line where often times the returner won't even catch it and just lets it bounce. Although in this case, he seemed to change his mind at the last moment and hurried back to attempt to field it. It wasn't a muffed catch, it's like the catch animation just never triggered and the ball hit him on the head. Which leads to my second point of wanting the returner to catch these punts because it seems that I get pinned inside the 3 or 2 yard line too often for my own liking. Sure it may go into the endzone for a touchback, but I'd rather play it safer and just take it at the 10. Do I have to manually catch it and risk the above situation happening again? (Even though that was all CPU.)

My biggest issue is when I see the punt is inside the 10. I will go and try and control the punt returner to move him out of the way and then for some damn reason, the computer won’t let me move very far and the CPU will try to move him back, causing a possible muff. It doesn’t seem like I can find anyone online who has complained about this but it happens to me regularly and it’s very annoying...