Allow me to be overly pedantic for a moment:
I've played multiple seasons of Madden in an multi-user online Franchise at this point. I've seen the CPU punt the ball in outdoor games and into the wind
plenty of times in said seasons.
The punts in these situations are shorter, absolutely, and that these punts can be unreasonably short relative to league averages is a balance issue that Tiburon should address. There are nevertheless still punts. I conclude via repeated first-hand observation that the CPU is plenty able to punt the ball. They possess that capability and they repeatedly and consistently utilize that tactic in the appropriate situations.
If the CPU were not capable of punting, the punter would never get on the field, be it because the CPU is calling plays poorly, the game crashing anytime the CPU ends up in 4th and long, or other reasons which would
prevent the CPU from punting literally at all.
In the meantime while we wait for Tiburon to deliver a fix for this gameplay balance issue - that is literally all this is - you have several workaround options if this circumstance is offensive enough to hinder your total experience with the game:
- You can adjust the punting slider to make CPU punts consistently longer
- You can temporarily edit CPU punter Kick Power ratings before you play CPU teams outdoors
- You can adjust sliders to make playing offense vs CPU teams harder to compensate for shorter field position
- You can adjust sliders to make playing defense vs CPU teams harder to reduce CPU punting frequency
There are probably even more things you can do, but that's plenty enough with which to start.