Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format • Hacker News Board

Re: Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format

#21

Post by anon987 » Thu, Jan 03, 2013, 5:43 PM UTC

sjs382 wrote: post #15

edw519 wrote: post #9

From Line 42536 of the 2008 CSV file: 20090201_PIT@ARI,2,30,18,ARI,PIT,1,1,1,(:18) (Shotgun) K.Warner pass short middle intended for A.Boldin INTERCEPTED by J.Harrison at PIT 0. J.Harrison for 100 yards TOUCHDOWN. Super Bowl Record longest interception return yards. Penalty on ARZ-E.Brown Face Mask (15 Yards) declined. The Replay Assistant challenged the runner broke the plane ruling and the play was Upheld.,7,10,200…

Funny, I was looking for just that line to see how the more complicated plays were described. First thing that I noticed was that the Game ID matched CBS's website's URLs: 20090201_PIT@ARI == http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/playbyplay/NFL_2009... Also, I went to compare this PBP to both ESPN and CBS and found that both have the exact PBP data, which is interesting because it seems that they got this data dir…

It looks like the same format they use for NFL Game Rewind too. I would guess that there is an official syntax and the data is provided by the NFL because if not you would have all types of formats and opinions about the game baked into each team's data. I would also guess the same office that keeps records (game, individual, all time, etc) are the ones that keep the play by play too.

Overall this is neat but it's hard to find real life context within this data. Was the QB pressured, was a coverage blown, was there a pre-snap audible or motion or change by the defense, what was the formation, how much sleep did the players get the night before, etc etc.

Re: Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format

#22

Post by kevinburke » Thu, Jan 03, 2013, 5:50 PM UTC

I wrote a small wrapper around the 4th down calculator on that site, which should help you figure out if your team should go for it on 4th down:

http://downanddistance.herokuapp.com/

Re: Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format

#23

Post by sswezey » Thu, Jan 03, 2013, 5:53 PM UTC

sjs382 wrote: post #15

edw519 wrote: post #9

From Line 42536 of the 2008 CSV file: 20090201_PIT@ARI,2,30,18,ARI,PIT,1,1,1,(:18) (Shotgun) K.Warner pass short middle intended for A.Boldin INTERCEPTED by J.Harrison at PIT 0. J.Harrison for 100 yards TOUCHDOWN. Super Bowl Record longest interception return yards. Penalty on ARZ-E.Brown Face Mask (15 Yards) declined. The Replay Assistant challenged the runner broke the plane ruling and the play was Upheld.,7,10,200…

Funny, I was looking for just that line to see how the more complicated plays were described. First thing that I noticed was that the Game ID matched CBS's website's URLs: 20090201_PIT@ARI == http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/playbyplay/NFL_2009... Also, I went to compare this PBP to both ESPN and CBS and found that both have the exact PBP data, which is interesting because it seems that they got this data dir…

I think they all get their data for Elias Sports Bureau

Re: Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format

#24

Post by dude_abides » Thu, Jan 03, 2013, 5:53 PM UTC

Here is an idea: build a predictive model of an offensive coach that predicts the play he will call, given a game situation (and based on that, build a predictiveness quotient for a coach).

Re: Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format

#25

Post by fleaflicker » Thu, Jan 03, 2013, 5:55 PM UTC

edw519 wrote: post #9

From Line 42536 of the 2008 CSV file: 20090201_PIT@ARI,2,30,18,ARI,PIT,1,1,1,(:18) (Shotgun) K.Warner pass short middle intended for A.Boldin INTERCEPTED by J.Harrison at PIT 0. J.Harrison for 100 yards TOUCHDOWN. Super Bowl Record longest interception return yards. Penalty on ARZ-E.Brown Face Mask (15 Yards) declined. The Replay Assistant challenged the runner broke the plane ruling and the play was Upheld.,7,10,200…

You'll find that the text descriptions aren't consistently formatted. It's tough to extract structured data from all play descriptions.

For example, first initial plus last name does does not uniquely identify a player. You'll need accurate roster data first, and even then there are clashes.

We store play data by its structured components (players involved, play type, player roles, etc) and then derive the text description. This allows us to reassemble pbp data from different pro games to show a "feed" for your fantasy team.

Baseball has a smaller set of play outcomes/transitions so its easier to model this way. As your example from the Steelers Super Bowl shows, football plays can be very complex.

Re: Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format

#26

Post by iansinke » Thu, Jan 03, 2013, 5:56 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #14

edw519 wrote: post #9

From Line 42536 of the 2008 CSV file: 20090201_PIT@ARI,2,30,18,ARI,PIT,1,1,1,(:18) (Shotgun) K.Warner pass short middle intended for A.Boldin INTERCEPTED by J.Harrison at PIT 0. J.Harrison for 100 yards TOUCHDOWN. Super Bowl Record longest interception return yards. Penalty on ARZ-E.Brown Face Mask (15 Yards) declined. The Replay Assistant challenged the runner broke the plane ruling and the play was Upheld.,7,10,200…

I eagerly wait your next eBook, "How I Pivoted Into The NFL".

"How I Pivot-tabled Into The NFL"

Re: Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format

#27

Post by fleaflicker » Thu, Jan 03, 2013, 5:58 PM UTC

dude_abides wrote: post #24

Here is an idea: build a predictive model of an offensive coach that predicts the play he will call, given a game situation (and based on that, build a predictiveness quotient for a coach).

It doesn't work like that in practice. Football is very dependent on matchups. Coaches will vary gameplans from week-to-week to exploit weaknesses they see on film.

Re: Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format

#28

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 03, 2013, 5:59 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format

#29

Post by dkoch » Thu, Jan 03, 2013, 6:04 PM UTC

arscan wrote: post #5

I'm frankly surprised that this information is allowed to be distributed. I spent awhile in the financial services industry, and while it was really easy to obtain "public" information like stock quote data, I recall that we weren't allowed to simply scrape data from public sites... we had to pay a license fee to get a feed of the data if we were planning on repackaging & distributing it. It seems to me that the NFL…

IANAL, but there was a landmark case where the NBA sued Motorola and STATS Inc. for distributing live game statistics. The ruling ended up in favor of STATS, where the decision was pure facts could not be copyrighted.

Re: Every NFL play for the past 10 years in CSV format

#30

Post by zgohr » Thu, Jan 03, 2013, 6:05 PM UTC

dude_abides wrote: post #24

Here is an idea: build a predictive model of an offensive coach that predicts the play he will call, given a game situation (and based on that, build a predictiveness quotient for a coach).

If only a single play call had a single potential outcome, and that outcome was always met. Using these stats for predictions would seem extremely difficult beyond answering, "will it be a run or a pass?"