Unable to register a hit stick in ultimate kickoff challenge - Saints

Yes... This needs a fix ASAP. I’m getting hit sticks with avalanche basically every play and nothings registering.

Product: Madden NFL 21
Platform:PlayStation 5
Which console generation do you have? Sony PlayStation 5
What is your gamertag/PSN ID?
Date/time issue occurred Every hit stick
What type of issue do you have? Gameplay
Which mode has this happened in? Online head to head
Summarize your bug None of the hit sticks are registering. Avalanche & hit sticks in general are a complete waste right now
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Play the game, and you will see no hit sticks are counting or showing as “user hit stick”
What happens when the bug occurs? No “user hit stick” shows, and hit sticks don’t count to avalanche X factor. they are not registering as hit sticks
What do you expect to see? A “hit stick” with no extra consequence / damage
PS4 Crash Reporting: Please copy the text you put in the crash report here.
What is the AMD or Nvidia Model Number of your graphics card?
Enter RAM memory size in GB

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Needs fixing asap. You can run freely with no consequences. QBs are even holding the ball

I have the exact same problem on the Xbox Series X. Really needs to be fixed. 

It's not a matter of timing.  The hit stick was working fine 6 or 7 or so weeks ago on PS5.  I could force 3 to 4 fumbles a game just from hit stick hits on challenges that had rookie or arcade for the default setting. On occasion, you could score on consecutive kickoffs just from crushing the return man and scooping his fumble.

When you got one, the words "USER HIT STICK" would appear under the score graphic at the top of the screen, similar to other things I still see, like "USER JUKE."

I haven't seen a single "user hit stick" register in nearly 2 months, and fumbles caused from hit sticks have totally, 100% disappeared from the game, no matter the settings.

In 50 minutes of trying on the Ultimate Kickoff - NFC/Saints challenge I could not produce a single user hit stick for the 5th bonus star in over 50 minutes of trying, despite numerous times nailing the ball carrier, as shown in the video linked in the OP.

The only semi-reliable way to force a fumble now is usually to blindside strip tackle the QB.  

A simple test on the PS5 version should confirm this.

I'm also encountering this same bug, where the hit stick is not registered (either using it up or down), since I upgrade from the PS4 version to next gen PS5 version a couple of weeks ago.

Each time I now use the hit stick, although it goes through the regular hit stick motion graphics, there is no acknowledgement that the hit stick has been registered and no fumbles are caused.

After thinking my new PS5 controller was at fault, I loaded up the PS4 version of the game on my PS5 (using the same controller) and the hit stick was registered as before, which leads me to think this is a next gen issue.

I tested this by running the hit stick practice session - each time I used the hit stick (either up or down) it wasn't registered when using the PS5 version (and therefore failing the practice session), but the first time running PS4 version it worked as expected.

I also replayed some older MUT challenges in Arcade Rookie difficulty, where previously on the PS4 version hit stick equalled fumble, but now this is not the case on PS5.