nflfastR 4.1.0

Breaking changes

Functions

• Added the function calculate_player_stats() that aggregates official passing, rushing, and receiving stats either at game level or overall
• Added the function load_player_stats() that loads weekly player stats from 1999 to the most recent season
• The performance of the functions add_xyac() and clean_pbp() has been significantly improved

New Variables

• Added the new columns td_player_name and td_player_id to clearly identify the player who scored a touchdown (this is especially helpful for plays with multiple fumbles or laterals resulting in a touchdown)
• The function calculate_player_stats() now adds the variable dakota, the epa + cpoe composite, for players with minimum 5 pass attempts.
• Added column home_opening_kickoff to clean_pbp()
• Added the variables sack_player_id, sack_player_name, half_sack_1_player_id, half_sack_1_player_name, half_sack_2_player_id and half_sack_2_player_name who identify players that recorded sacks (or half sacks). Also updated the description of the variables qb_hit_1_player_id, qb_hit_1_player_name, qb_hit_2_player_id and qb_hit_2_player_name to make more clear that they did not record a sack. (#180)

Minor improvements and fixes

• The variable qb_scramble was incomplete for the 2005 season because of missing scramble indicators in the play description. This has been mostly fixed courtesy of charting data from Football Outsiders (with thanks to Aaron Schatz!). Some notes on this fix: Weeks 1-16 are based on charting. Weeks 17-21 are guesses (basically every QB run except those that were a) a loss, b) no gain, or c) on 3/4 down with 1-2 to go). Plays nullified by penalty are not included.
• Change name, id, rusher, and rusher_id to be the player charged with the fumble on aborted snaps when the QB is unable to make a play (i.e. pass, sack, or scramble) (#162)
• The function clean_pbp() now standardizes the team name columns tackle_with_assist_*_team
• Fix bug in drive that was causing incorrect overtime win probabilities (#194)
• Fixed a bug where posteam was not NA on end of quarter 2 (or end of quarter 4 in overtime games) causing wrong values for fixed_drive, fixed_drive_result, series and series_result
• Fixed a bug where fixed_drive and series were falsely incrementing on kickoffs recovered by the kicking team or on defensive touchdowns followed by timeouts
• Fixed a bug where fixed_drive and series were falsely incrementing on muffed punts recovered by the punting team for a touchdown
• Fixed a bug where add_xpass() crashed when ran with data already including xpass variables.
• Fixed a bug in epa when a safety is scored by the team beginning the play in possession of the ball (#186)
• Fix some bugs related to David and Duke Johnson on the Texans in 2020 (#163)
• Fix yet another bug related to correctly identifying possession team on kickoffs nullified by penalty (#199)
• Fixed a bug where calculate_player_stats() forgot to clean player names by using their IDs
• Fixed a bug where special teams touchdowns were missing in the output of calculate_player_stats() (#203)
• Fixed for some old Jaguars games where the wrong team was awarded points for safeties and kickoff return TDs (#209)
• The function update_db() no more falsely closes a database connection provided by the argument db_connection (#210)
• Fixed a bug where yards_gained was missing yardage on plays with laterals. (#216)
• Fixed a bug where there were stats wrongly given on a play with penalty (#218)
• fixed_drive now increments properly on onside kick recoveries (#215)
• fixed_drive no longer counts a muffed kickoff as a one-play drive on its own (#217)
• fixed_drive now properly increments after a safety (#219)
• Improved parser for penalty_type and updated the description of the variable to make more clear it's the first penalty that happened on a play. (#223)