Blitzing Out of Tilted Fronts

The tilted front, which I’ve written about before, is great for creating 1-on-1 matchups and executing stunts. And if you drop a 5th or even a 6th man down onto the line of scrimmage, you’ve created a look that puts protections schemes into a serious bind.

It’s hard to find a better example of this than Week 2 of the 2024 season when Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans was able to torment Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears with one blitz after another out of this front.

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First, let’s take a look at the front so we can understand why it can be so effective. Notice the 3 defensive linemen positioned to one side of the center:

Multiple pass rushers to the 3-man side are often assured a 1-on-1 matchup out of this alignment.

When a 5th defender (a linebacker or safety) drops down onto the line of scrimmage, it often forces the O-line into man blocking and 1-on-1’s across the board. That makes it more difficult for the protection to handle any stunts since there’s no extra blocker to help out.

As you’ll see on the examples below, it was these 5-man tilted front looks that Ryans used over and over on this night to generate immense pressure.