More short punt peculiarities

[kod68]

I always thought that Barney had a fumble problem, I never considered before a week or so ago that the short kicks could have been the problem with him dropping the ball.
I was wondering if I was getting the short kick attempts in a game last night. Four punts, three were definite serious risk of muffing the fielding of the ball because of short kicks.
First punt, from his 7 to his 35. Haynes was struggling to get underneath the short kick, & couldn’t pull him away from trying to field the punt. It bounced off of him and rolled around, until Ortiz picked it up. 28 yard punt.
Second punt, from his 45 to my 15, return for 1 yard, 41 yard punt.
Third punt at his 26. Haynes was struggling to get underneath the short kick. So I pulled him away and let it bounce back and roll for about 10 yards. Started at my 36, about a 40 yard punt with the roughly ten yard bounce & roll. Minus the bounce & roll, about 30.
Fourth punt, from his 46 to my 22. Ball traveled about 33 yards. Returned it for 11. Risked fielding the ball even though, Haynes was struggling to get underneath it.
Kind of felt I was getting the “short kick hoping for the fumble” abuse.
Left positive feedback, though.
Is Bouman that weak of a kicker?

[maltliquor23]

no they were exploiting the horrible punt return AI and trying to force a fumble, or cause you to run out of bounds. Did he kick toward the sidelines on kick offs as well? Were field goals long and good or horribly short and off? I usually avg 44 to 48 yd punts with bouman. Read into it what you will.

[kod68]

I don't remember if he even got to my half of the field, so there were no FG attempts.
Kickoffs were good. I accidently shanked one out of bounds on a kickoff.
The game was good, but the punts were the whackest I've ever seen. If the short punts are really exploits, they were good attempts at it. MW's post on them got me wondering.
The guy seems to be regarded well, & I'd play him again. Countered easily enough.


East Zion

[maltliquor23]

Its good to hear you were able to field easily. I haven't had as good of luck with all that. My guys, even if i control them, will dive and miss the ball. He was trying and apparently doesn't have it down yet.

[kod68]

Oh, I almost got screwed alright. I think you have to jerk away your return man as soon as they punt the ball. If he goes into the catch animation, like when he is trying to get under the ball, you're stuck. The last punt, I ran clear across the field when he kicked. Wasn't going to be even in the field of play when it landed.
And, maybe it's just exploit paranoai, lol.

[Njake.]

I love when your kick returner dives for the ball. It looks so cool.

[AlexJones27]

I got accused of this in a previous post. My punt wasn't short though. I kick it high because if you know how to use the punter bring the meter stick to the second highest possible and time your punt and they fly. What this does is gives your special teams time to run down the field and make a play. It's not an AI glitch as some idiots say but rather a "Footsteps" time thing where the returner is scared of being hit just like in real life. your only option is to call a fair catch. People call this cheese and it's not. It's the game. People don't know how to punt. I see low punts being kicked out of bounds when there really losing about 20 yards off there punt. The only time you should be doing that is if you want to pinch an opponent back in there own territory.

[AlexJones27]

no they were exploiting the horrible punt return AI and trying to force a fumble, or cause you to run out of bounds. Did he kick toward the sidelines on kick offs as well? Were field goals long and good or horribly short and off? I usually avg 44 to 48 yd punts with bouman. Read into it what you will.


This is not an AI issue. Call for a fair catch and this won't happen.

[kod68]

Once again, do you not think you are being a cun t cycyling through your defenders rapidly, trying to cause your opponent to miss their FG's?

[dj Live]

I angle punts all the time to prevent returns and to also pin my opponent inside their 20 yardline. I have benefited from a few of these where my opponent tried to run and catch it only to muff the catch and allow me to recover the ball. I average about 40 yards per punt and most of my kicks make it out of bounds... there are a few that dont and in those cases the return guy better have good hands or he will muff the ball. Lem Barney and others while running will muff the ball alot....happens in the NFL and college so why not APF...

Stay on your guy after you select punt return and you should be able to stop him from being in a bad situation... Let the ball bounce and or fair catch the ball will make this a non issue.

I have played many people who punt the ball low and short and claim they made a bad kick or did it on purpose....doesnt matter to me because I will back my guy away from it if I feel it will create a problem for me.....no need to call someone a glitcher because I failed to make the proper read on the kick.

[maltliquor23]

This is not an AI issue. Call for a fair catch and this won't happen.

It is an AI issue If the ball is kicked toward the sidelines even if i call for a fair catch the returner slides to make the catch. More importantly if he can field it why would i call for a fair catch with a good returner and the ability to move up field. You said so yourself call for a Fair Catch and it won't happen. If it happens 90% of the time it is an AI issue. Not a someone cant play issue. I took my losses fair. Go practice punting and kick to the computer like that. You will see i am right.