Shemar James

ILB · Dallas Cowboys vs Baltimore Ravens · 46 graded snaps

Detrimental

James struggled with eye discipline against play-action fakes, yielding chunk gains in coverage despite a few flashes of lateral pursuit against the run.

Special teams6024Run defense6214Coverage498

The full breakdown

James earned a detrimental grade driven down primarily by coverage lapses where he bit hard on Baltimore run fakes. His poorest sequence occurred on a Q3 1:48 play-action bootleg where vacating his zone opened up a 21-yard reception to Matthew Hibner, mirroring an earlier bite that yielded 14 yards at Q2 6:56. His run defense was mixed (62 grade); he diagnosed lateral flow well to snuff out a screen at Q2 12:50 (+1.0) and stopped Henry for no gain at Q4 1:43 (+0.5). However, he surrendered a goal-line score through contact at Q1 1:22 (-0.5) and was washed out by pulling guard Ioane on Henry's 29-yard power run at Q3 5:54 (-1.0).

Strengths

Lateral scrape and pursuit
Screen recognition

Weaknesses

Eye discipline vs. play-action
Taking on pulling blockers

Plays that moved the grade

-1Q3 1:48, 1st & 10Bit hard forward on a play-action fake, vacating his hook/curl zone to concede a 21-yard reception.
-1Q3 5:54, 1st & 10Got blocked squarely in the alley by pulling guard #71 Ioane, losing his gap fit on a 29-yard Henry run.
+1Q2 12:50, 1st & 10Diagnosed a sprint-out screen and scraped through traffic to finish a wrap-up tackle for no gain.

Every graded snap · 10 wins or losses, 36 routine

-0.5Q1 01:22 · 2 & 4 · Run defenseTriggers downhill to meet Henry around the 1-yard line, but Henry's forward momentum pushes through his tackle attempt into the end zone.
+1Q2 12:50 · 1 & 10 · Run defenseDiagnoses the sprint out, scrapes laterally through traffic, and joins Revel to make the wrap-up tackle for no gain.
-0.5Q2 08:01 · 3 & 5 · Run defenseSlow to trigger downhill into the B-gap and gets walled off by the climbing offensive line.
-0.5Q2 06:56 · 2 & 6 · CoverageBites on the play-action fake to Henry, opening up the underneath throwing window to Cuevas.
+0.5Q3 09:57 · 2 & 9 · Run defenseRead run flow quickly and was closing in to make the stop had Williams not finished the play first.
-1Q3 05:54 · 1 & 10 · Run defenseScrapes toward the alley but gets blocked squarely by pulling guard #71 Ioane, losing his gap.
-1Q3 01:48 · 1 & 10 · CoverageBites forward hard on the Henry run fake, leaving the intermediate flat vacated before having to pursue from behind.

Shemar James's season grades →