nflfastR 2.1.0

  • Remove week from EP models
  • Add function update_db() which adds all completed games to a SQLite database
  • Add calculate_win_probability() function along with new example in vignette("examples")

nflfastR 2.0.6

  • Fixed a problem where defensive two point conversions were not counted
  • Kneels on kickoffs are no longer counted as qb kneels
  • Variable yards_gained more precisely defined
  • Bugfixes for more games with out of order of plays
  • Fix bug related to EPA on plays with a failed pass interference challenge
  • Added new example to vignette("examples") to demonstrate Expected Points calculator calculate_expected_points()
  • Fix for WP on 2-pt conversion negated by penalty
  • Add more variables (containing team names) to team standardization in clean_pbp()
  • Fix WP for onside kicks

nflfastR 2.0.5

  • Fix yet another bug caused by NFL providing plays out of order
  • Fix bugs related to penalties on PATs and kickoffs
  • Fix bugs related to NFL providing wrong scoring team on defensive touchdowns in older games involving the Jaguars
  • Fix some minor issues related to wrong first_down_rush and return_touchdown
  • Improved error handling of fast_scraper() for not yet played games
  • Improved variable documentation and prepared for new website
  • Improved performance for dplyr v1.0.0
  • Rebuilt EP and WP models due to bugfixes in the underlying data in the versions 2.0.3, 2.0.4 and 2.0.5

nflfastR 2.0.4

  • Fix another bug with out of order plays
  • Fix bug affecting cumulative totals for WPA, air_WPA and yac_WPA
  • Fix bug affecting cumulative totals for air_EPA and yac_EPA

nflfastR 2.0.3

  • Fix for NFL providing plays out of order
  • Fix for series not incrementing following defensive TD

nflfastR 2.0.2

  • Fixed a bug in the series and series success calculations caused by timeouts following a possession change
  • Fixed win probability on PATs

nflfastR 2.0.1

  • Added minimum version requirement on xgboost (>= 1.1) as the recent xgboost update caused a breaking change leading to failure in adding model results to data

nflfastR 2.0.0

Models

  • Added new models for Expected Points, Win Probability and Completion Probability and removed nflscrapR dependency. This is a major change as we are stepping away from the well established nflscrapR models. But we believe it is a good step forward. See data-raw/MODEL-README.md for detailed model information.

  • Added internal functions for EPA and WPA to helper_add_ep_wp.R.

  • Added new function calculate_expected_points() usable for the enduser.

Functions

  • Completely overhauled fast_scraper() to make it work with the NFL’s new server backend. The option source is still available but will be deprecated since there is only one source now. There are some changes in the output as well (please see below).

  • fast_scraper() now adds game data to the play by play data set courtesy of Lee Sharpe. Game data include: away_score, home_score, location, result, total, spread_line, total_line, div_game, roof, surface, temp, wind, home_coach, away_coach, stadium, stadium_id, gameday

  • fastcraper_schedules() now incorporates Lee Sharpe’s games.rds.

  • The functions fast_scraper_clips() and fast_scraper_roster() are deactivated due to the missing data source. They might be reactivated or completely dropped in future versions.

  • The function fix_fumbles() has been renamed to add_qb_epa() as the new name much better describes what the function is actually doing.

Miscellaneous

  • Added progress information using the progressrpackage and removed the furrr progress bars.

  • clean_pbp() now adds the column ìd which is the id of the player in the column name. Because we have to piece together different data to cover the full span of years, player IDs are not consistent between the early (1999-2010) and recent (2011 onward) periods.

  • Added a NEWS.md file to track changes to the package.

  • Fixed several bugs inhereted from nflscrapR, including one where EPA was missing when a play was followed by two timeouts (for example, a two-minute warning followed by a timeout), and another where play_type was incorrect on plays with declined penalties.

  • Fixed a bug, where receiver_player_name and receiver didn’t name the correct players on plays with lateral passes.

Play-by-Play Output

The output has changed a little bit.

The following variables were dropped

Dropped Variables Description
game_key RS feed game identifier.
game_time_local Kickoff time in local time zone.
iso_time Kickoff time according ISO 8601.
game_type One of ‘REG’, ‘WC’, ‘DIV’, ‘CON’, ‘SB’ indicating if a game was a regular season game or one of the playoff rounds.
site_id RS feed id for game site.
site_city Game site city.
site_state Game site state.
drive_possession_team_abbr Abbreviation of the possession team in a given drive.
scoring_team_abbr Abbreviation of the scoring team if the play was a scoring play.
scoring_type String indicating the scoring type. One of ‘FG’, ‘TD’, ‘PAT’, ‘SFTY’, ‘PAT2’.
alert_play_type String describing the play type of a play the NFL has listed as alert play. For most of those plays there are highlight clips available through fast_scraper_clips.
time_of_day Local time at the beginning of the play.
yards Analogue yards_gained but with the kicking team being the possession team (which means that there are many yards gained through kickoffs and punts).
end_yardline_number Yardline number within the above given side at the end of the given play.
end_yardline_side String indicating the side of the field at the end of the given play.

The following variables were renamed

Renamed Variables Description
game_time_eastern -> start_time Kickoff time in eastern time zone.
site_fullname -> stadium Game site name.
drive_how_started -> drive_start_transition String indicating how the offense got the ball.
drive_how_ended -> drive_end_transition String indicating how the offense lost the ball.
drive_start_time -> drive_game_clock_start Game time at the beginning of a given drive.
drive_end_time -> drive_game_clock_end Game time at the end of a given drive.
drive_start_yardline -> drive_start_yard_line String indicating where a given drive started consisting of team half and yard line number.
drive_end_yardline -> drive_end_yard_line String indicating where a given drive ended consisting of team half and yard line number.
roof_type -> roof One of ‘dome’, ‘outdoors’, ‘closed’, ‘open’ indicating indicating the roof status of the stadium the game was played in. (Source: Pro-Football-Reference)

The following variables were added

Added Variables Description
vegas_wp Estimated win probabiity for the posteam given the current situation at the start of the given play, incorporating pre-game Vegas line.
vegas_home_wp Estimated win probability for the home team incorporating pre-game Vegas line.
weather String describing the weather including temperature, humidity and wind (direction and speed). Doesn’t change during the game!
nfl_api_id UUID of the game in the new NFL API.
play_clock Time on the playclock when the ball was snapped.
play_deleted Binary indicator for deleted plays.
end_clock_time Game time at the end of a given play.
end_yard_line String indicating the yardline at the end of the given play consisting of team half and yard line number.
drive_real_start_time Local day time when the drive started (currently not used by the NFL and therefore mostly ‘NA’).
drive_ended_with_score Binary indicator the drive ended with a score.
drive_quarter_start Numeric value indicating in which quarter the given drive has started.
drive_quarter_end Numeric value indicating in which quarter the given drive has ended.
drive_play_id_started Play_id of the first play in the given drive.
drive_play_id_ended Play_id of the last play in the given drive.
away_score Total points scored by the away team.
home_score Total points scored by the home team.
location Either ‘Home’ o ‘Neutral’ indicating if the home team played at home or at a neutral site.
result Equals home_score - away_score and means the game outcome from the perspective of the home team.
total Equals home_score + away_score and means the total points scored in the given game.
spread_line The closing spread line for the game. A positive number means the home team was favored by that many points, a negative number means the away team was favored by that many points. (Source: Pro-Football-Reference)
total_line The closing total line for the game. (Source: Pro-Football-Reference)
div_game Binary indicator for if the given game was a division game.
roof One of ‘dome’, ‘outdoors’, ‘closed’, ‘open’ indicating indicating the roof status of the stadium the game was played in. (Source: Pro-Football-Reference)
surface What type of ground the game was played on. (Source: Pro-Football-Reference)
temp The temperature at the stadium only for ‘roof’ = ‘outdoors’ or ‘open’.(Source: Pro-Football-Reference)
wind The speed of the wind in miles/hour only for ‘roof’ = ‘outdoors’ or ‘open’. (Source: Pro-Football-Reference)
home_coach First and last name of the home team coach. (Source: Pro-Football-Reference)
away_coach First and last name of the away team coach. (Source: Pro-Football-Reference)
stadium_id ID of the stadium the game was played in. (Source: Pro-Football-Reference)
game_stadium Name of the stadium the game was played in. (Source: Pro-Football-Reference)