Blocked Punts in Back to Back Games

[Wheeler Dealer]

Too Weird!!!!

Until yesterday my teams had not blocked a punt in 20 seasons. Now it happened two games in a row. DJ Williams, MLB2, was the player that did it. Both times I had called a return and both times the two blockers closest to DJ went for the players beside him and he shot the gap untouched. One time the opponent was on his 20 and the other time on his 30.

Just before these two games I had tweaked my sliders. I don't know if that had anything to do with this or if it's just a huge cosmic joke on me. Here are the sliders if you are interested.

OFF 35 35 35 80 60
Def 40 40 40 40 40
ST 45 40 50 95 25

Can't imagine how that could cause kicks to be blocked. Picker did say that using other than "even numbers" could make weird things happen. Maybe it's that 95?

Added comment: This has gone beyond weird, it's now spooky. I had the third blocked punt in three games. I had tweaked my sliders again trying for a more competitive game (unsuccessful, won Super Bowl 50-17) and during garbage time in the 4th quarter DJ blocked another. The LOS must have been around the 35 because the next play was a 14 yard run for the final TD.

This time the sliders were:

OFF 30 30 30 80 60
DEF 40 40 40 40 40
ST 50 40 50 90 20

I'm buffaloed. Any ideas?

[picker19]

Assuming you called the same play each time, exactly which punt return play did you call?

My only success blocking a FG was when both KP and KA were well below 50. My guess has always been that low power and/or accuracy can help increase chances for being blocked, but it's only ever been a guess. I have both my PP and PA sliders at 80, and I can only block punts when I'm on the CPU's 1 yard line. However, you saw an unblocked defender three times, so maybe it has nothing to do with accuracy or power. Bottom line is, who knows?!

[algoody421]

Punts rely on pass blocking. You lowered it to 35... so all the lineman on their punt team are dumber and less talented by 15 points give or take. Then you also have block shed at 40, so your defense while lessened from standard block shedding ability, are still better than their oline right from the start, based on your sliders.

Thats why you had 2 punt blocks. Probably 1 of those was a fluke, the other was because of the sliders. One last thing, how fast is dj williams? If hes inside on the line as a speedy lb and the linemen block the slower dts, you get a free shot with a guy fast enough to get there. Also, dropping awareness hurts both sides of the ball so everyone is 10 minus in awareness... makes it easier to see dumb mistakes by anyone on the field, especially linemen...

I'll be posting my video for a look at what season stats are like on my sliders(byrons), realize I NEVER CHANGED THEM, from preseason game 1, to end of week 17. The only thing Ive tweaked since putting them up a long time ago was bringing catch and knockdowns back to 50 from 25. That allowed drops to be more reasonable over a 16 game season and still kept interceptions under 10 for anyone the entire season(aka realistic).

[Wheeler Dealer]

I wasn't trying to block the punts. I for about 15 seasons now I just call a return to the wide side of the field. That doesn't seem to influence the ball carrier, but I have one extra blocker if the punt goes to the wide side.

I'm sure I called return right or left and pretty sure there was at least one of each in the three blocks.

DJ Williams has a speed of 85. Fast but not extraordinarily so. he was my number two MLB in the depth chart so if you select return left (or right) and press square you can see where your MLB2 lines up. I don't change my personnel on the punt and FG teams (although I do on the KO and KOR)

I didn't play a game today, I was moving from DC to Green Bay. What a mess the CPU makes managing it's contracts! I'll be interested to see if this continues with my new team.

[Wheeler Dealer]

This is officially spooky now. I blocked a 4th punt with the same defender.

After I moved from DC to Green Bay I picked up DJ Williams in the free agent bidding. I changed my sliders to try something closer to what algoody421 preaches and supersimmed through the preseason.

For my third regular season game I swapped my MLBs and Williams became my MLB2. near the end of the first half from around midfield the CPU called a punt. I let my assistant call my play and DJ blocked his 4th punt in 6 games. From the replays it was obvious my team was running some kind of return.

4 blocks in 6 games, same player, same position, all returns, different teams, different coaches, different sliders!

[algoody421]

Thats it, Im trading for dj williams then! I need a backup mlb anyways...

[SwimsWithPhins]

DJ Williams is my MLB1 in my current Broncos franchise. Maybe I need to move him to MLB2 so I can block punts too.

(Actually, I did block a punt from the opponent's 1 yardline ... once.)

[Wheeler Dealer]

DJ seems to have lost his pixie dust. He's now gone about 20 games without a block.

Silly me, I may have wasted my incredible lucky streak on a video game when I could have been buying lottery tickets!