Rex in the latest version

[Guest]

Posted this over on FOFC but haven't had any response. Could anybody here try and give a bit of advice please?

Can you get by rexxing your gameplans each week in MP?

If you were to 100% rex your offense and defense gameplans each week, what is the one thing you would advise to change/adjust?

I have read lots of advice on various sites about gameplanning but feel that rexxing is probably the way forward for me but am I leaving anything obvious open for the opponent to exploit?

[Guest]

Yeah, for the most part.

The one thing you will susceptible is trickery. Throwing long on 2nd and short (2-1, 2-2, 2-3) is a very normal thing to do and Rex doesn't defend against it. You will get burned by 80 yard pass plays on 2nd and 1 as you'll be in goal line.

I also check to see if a team runs heavily on 3rd and long. Sometimes studly teams who run (*cough* Camden *cough*) will run more frequently on 3rd down and can gouge you. If that's the case I put more into Pass and less Pass Agressive. Sometimes even some into Run.

Some of the things I change from Rex with things marked ALWAYS for those I will always do:

OFFENSE
Basic Offensive Gameplan

Nada, unless you want to throw long on 2nd and short.

Offensive Game Plan Adjustments

I tend to go for it on 4th slightly more than the game does. Have to have good offense though, otherwise it'll hurt you by giving the other team good field position.

Miscellaneous Offensive Selections

I lower the FG range a few yards as I'd much rather go for it. (ALWAYS)
I almost always set my TE to block 0% of the time as I love me some TE action.

DEFENSE
Game Plan - Miscellaneous Settings

Drop CB blitzing to 0 (ALWAYS)

Basic Defensive Game Plan

Check other team's gameplanning to see if throwing long on 2nd and short, running on 3rd and long, adjust accordingly (ALWAYS)

Defensive Personnel Choices

Lower blitzing on Agg. Run's to 1 (ALWAYS)
Lower "Blitz two or more players" to 1 when not in Red Zone
Set Pass to 100 Nickel, 0 Dime when not in Red Zone

Pass Coverage

I will set Double Team to 100 if they have a stud.

[Cory]

I think rexxing gives you a good baseline to build on, but there are definite tweaks that are needed, as garion said.

Rex gives you a very vanilla plan, which may not work very well depending on the team you have built. An example I used in the past was that a couple of years ago I had a WLB that had great coverage bars and my nickel back was pretty much useless. Rexxing didn't seem to recognize this and would try to put me into nickel on passing downs, when I would have been much better off leaving my WLB on the field.

I think that this extrapolates out. If you build a vanilla team, where everybody is all-around type players I think you'll be OK most of the time. If you go outside of the norm at all I think you'll have to tweak a bit to keep your players where you want them.

[Aston]

When in doubt (i.e, an irregular backup QB having to play a game), I rex on offense, but I like to tune the defense more according to what I think the other team is running and what their strengths are. I can't be sure I do any better than Rex on defense, though!

On offense, the easiest things to adjust are the playcalling based on how often and when you might want to throw long, short, or run. On defense, if you have to pick a couple things -- and it can be tough given how the screens work together -- I'd start with double coverage and defensive personnel (nickel, dime, or base).

[Guest]

Cheers guys for the help. Garion, that is a fantastic post for newbies like me and the more I read it, the more it makes sense. Thanks again

[sawblade300]

What I've started doing that I've never paid much attention to when rexxing on basic defense is adjusting all the pass aggressive number to zero on 2nd and 3rd and 6-7 or less. According to the game, pass aggressive means the players automatically drop back into pass coverage at the snap. Considering LB's are already 5-7 yards off the LoS, you are almost surely going to give up a short pass first down.

[Guest]

Defensive Personnel Choices

Lower blitzing on Agg. Run's to 1 (ALWAYS)
Lower "Blitz two or more players" to 1 when not in Red Zone

I feel like I should explain my thinking here.

Blitzing on run plays is actually surprisingly effective, however when in Run Aggressive you are highly susceptible to pass plays, so I try and limit the damage from aa potential pass by not Blitzing anyone outside of the normal pass rushers.

Furthermore, I don't want to give up big plays in general so I dont rush more than 1 extra player while not in the red zone. That leaves more people in coverage. In the red zone I'm OK with that as I'm more willing to gamble on a big defensive play.

I'm more scared of the pass game than the run game. I'm perfectly fine being 30th in run D if my pass D is in the top 10. Most people don't run a lot, so if they do I just switch my defense up to try and stop the run more.