Hester and the Bears

[Acedeck]

Going into this year, I was preying I'd see the opposing kickers kick the ball away from Hester, to make it more realistic. Surely enough, I've seen it happen several times.

Now, for the other aspect of kicking to Hester. I know he has 100 speed rating, and he can break away from some tackles. Why is it that I have never even come close to returning one with him? You can say I suck, sure. I don't believe I do, but I'm noticing some difficulties making all of my Chicago Bears games realistic. If the Bears aren't averaging starting position from the 35 or better, something is wrong. Hester has like a 10% chance of returning it for a TD every time he receives a kick. I've played 6 games now (8 min) and have yet to break more than a 28 yard return with him. Is there something I should try doing differently?

Usually when Hester returns it, he's GONE. Meaning, he's never even touched except for maybe a hand on him as he breaks past the first line of defense. In this game, his explosiveness just doesn't seem to translate well. Maybe it's just the entire special teams coverage that's an issue. I notice my first two blocks often let their men go right by them. At the same time, if you make special teams easier, it turns into NCAA, which is a bad thing. What are your opinions?

[xScREaMx]

Not exactly what you're looking for but I saw Paste Padre say that if you use Return Middle you'll only have one return man that the CPU must kick to. Hope that helps.

[uofm1508]

You do realize Hester had 2 kick off returns for touchdowns last year in 43 chances.

No way on earth does that equate to a 10% chance for a touchdown every time. It actually comes out to a 4% chance of returning a kick for a touchdown. He does not just get the ball and take off without being touched. He only averaged 21 yards per return last year


So what you are describing sounds realistic to me

[Benicio10]

Quote: Originally Posted by Acedeck

Going into this year, I was preying I'd see the opposing kickers kick the ball away from Hester, to make it more realistic. Surely enough, I've seen it happen several times. Now, for the other aspect of kicking to Hester. I know he has 100 speed rating, and he can break away from some tackles. Why is it that I have never even come close to returning one with him? You can say I suck, sure. I don't believe I do, but I'm noticing some difficulties making all of my Chicago Bears games realistic. If the Bears aren't averaging starting position from the 35 or better, something is wrong. Hester has like a 10% chance of returning it for a TD every time he receives a kick. I've played 6 games now (8 min) and have yet to break more than a 28 yard return with him. Is there something I should try doing differently? Usually when Hester returns it, he's GONE. Meaning, he's never even touched except for maybe a hand on him as he breaks past the first line of defense. In this game, his explosiveness just doesn't seem to translate well. Maybe it's just the entire special teams coverage that's an issue. I notice my first two blocks often let their men go right by them. At the same time, if you make special teams easier, it turns into NCAA, which is a bad thing. What are your opinions?

what you are asking for, my friend, is a realistic special teams model in Madden, which quite frankly, is asking for too much.

Madden has shown throughout history, including this year, that it knows how to, as one user put it eloquently, "Band-Aid" problems to try to get better results. They make Hester 100 speed to make him super human and run past everyone, but we know that he is not the fastest guy in the game.

What you want is realistic spacing, kick physics, wind being a factor helping slow the trajectory down, realistic blocking and special teams blocking AI to know who to pick up ... you want more subtle agility moves that create enough little space for Hester to zip through ... you want body momentum, realistic acceleration and deceleration (That's the key to what makes Hester a great returner, the ability to slow down and speed up when he needs to; patience)

These are implementations that are so far beyond the ability of what Madden can do. But here's to next year!

[SmashMan]

Maybe it's the Bears fan in me talking, but no team in the league has the balls to kick it to Hester. Everyone will spin it as strategy, but come on. He's one man. Kick it to him.

[Freelance]

Quote: Originally Posted by SmashMan

Maybe it's the Bears fan in me talking, but no team in the league has the balls to kick it to Hester. Everyone will spin it as strategy, but come on. He's one man. Kick it to him.

Why kick it to him when he's the only dangerous offensive player on the whole team?

[x BaNGaDoShiSh]

Im actually great with him on the all-madden level at returning kicks....use punt return middle n drop a LB back from the middle and use him for any gunners that get by their man, try this out in practice mode n in due time you'll get good at it..just takes time

[TheLateralLine]

Dude I watched every Bears game - i can guarantee you, that those 41 kicks to him were not rosy kick off or punts that that other kick returners get.

Bears had league best on best starting position resulting from kickoffs and punts last year.

>>You do realize Hester had 2 kick off returns for touchdowns last year in 43 >>chances.