2013 NFL Play by Play Data
*Updated to include 2014 Play by Play data
Inspired by Brian Burke’s Advanced NFL Stats site that has made NFL play-by-play data available for the last 10 years, I wanted to find a way to make the same dataset available for the 2013 season. Thanks to Pro-Football-Reference.com’s Game Play Finder that data is available almost immediately following each game during the season. I’ve built a dataset using the Pro-Football-Reference tool that I will update as soon as it becomes available after games are complete for the week on Tuesday mornings. I’ve also applied my own parsing logic to separate the passer, receiver, rusher, etc on the play so the data can be easily aggregated and analyzed. Some of the columns may not be relevant or useful to you – they can simply be disregarded. Also, there will be errors in certain situations where the logic I’ve written fails to extract every value for each column from the text. Take these stats as unofficial, but know that they should be very close to correct except for some odd or complex play situations. Without further ado, here is the file available for download:
2013 NFL Play-by-Play Data in Excel
2014 NFL Play-by-Play Data in Excel
The columns used are listed and defined here:
| Field | Definition |
|---|---|
| Date | Date of Game |
| Tm | Offensive Team of Play |
| Opp | Defensive Team of Play |
| Quarter | Game Quarter |
| Time | Time of Quarter |
| Down | Down of Play |
| ToGo | Yards to Go |
| Side of Field | Team abbreviation of the side of field where the play started |
| Yard Marker | Yard Marker of the Field (0-50) |
| Tm Score | Score of offensive team during the play |
| Opp Score | Score of defensive team during the play |
| Detail | Raw text of what happened during play |
| Yds | Yards gained during play (incomplete passes are null) |
| Play Type | Run, Pass, or Sack |
| Pass Result | Complete or Incomplete |
| Pass Distance | Short or Deep |
| Pass Location | Left, Middle, or Right |
| Run Location | Location of the run (direction and line gap) |
| Turnover | 1 = Turnover, 0 = No Turnover (all fumbles get recorded as turnovers regardless of who recovers) |
| Fumble | Fumble (regardless of who recovers), null = no fumble |
| Interception | Interception, null = no interception |
| Passer | Passer on the play |
| Intended Receiver | Receiver whom pass was intended for on an incomplete pass |
| Receiver | Receiver who caught the pass on a complete reception |
| Targeted Receiver | Targeted reciever regardless of pass result |
| Rusher | Ball carrier on a rushing play |
| Touchdown | Touchdown if the play results in a TD, null if no touchdown |
| First Down | First Down if the play results in a first down, null if no first down |
| Time Under | Time rounded up to the nearest whole minute |
| Score Differential | Score at the time of the play expressed as Offensive team score - Defensive team score |
| Absolute Score Differential | Absolute value of score differential |
| Game Week | Week of season during which game was played |
| Team Game Location | Currently blank for all rows - data unavailable |
| Rush Attempt | If play = Rush then 1 else 0 |
| Pass Attempt | If play = Pass then 1 else 0 |
| Reception | If play = Pass and Pass Result = Complete then 1 else 0 |
| Interception Thrown | If Interception occurs then 1 else 0 |
| Target | If play = Pass then 1 else 0 |
| Fumble Count | If Fumble occurs then 1 else 0 |
| Sack | If Play Type = Sack then 1 else 0 |
| Len | Number of characters in the Detail column |
| Yard Line | Yard line of the play (0-100 where 5 means the opponent 5 yard line and 95 is the team's own 5 yard line) |
| Playmaker | Ball carrier or targeted receiver on the play |
| Touches | Rush Attempt column + Reception column (essentially 1 if a player touches the ball) |
| Play Attempts | Value of 1 for every row in the dataset (allows for a count of every play) |
| Playmaker Position | Offensive position of the playmaker |
| Yards Gained | Yards Gained during play (incomplete passes and other plays for no gain are recorded as 0) |
| Play Location | Combination of Rush Location and Pass Location to get a location on every play |
| Touchdown Count | 1 if play results in a touchdown else 0 |
| Play Percent of Goal | Yards Gained / ToGo |
| First Down Count | 1 if play results in a first down else 0 |
| Conversion Count | Combination of Touchdown Count and First Down Count (so 1 if play results in a touchdown or first down) |
| Goal To Go | 1 if ToGo = Yard Line else 0 |
| Success Count | If Down = 1, then play needs to be at least 40% of ToGo for success (success = 1, no success = 0), if Down = 2 then play needs to be at least 50% of ToGo for success, if Down = 3 or 4 then play needs to be at least 100% of ToGo for success |
| Penalty Removed Detail | Detail column with penalties removed from text |
| Len Penalty | Count of characters of Penalty Removed Detail |
| Playmaker Fantasy Points | Fantasy points (based on 1 point per 10 rushing/receiving yards, 6 points for rushing/receiving touchdown, 0.5 points per reception, 4 points per passing touchdown) for the playermaker of the play |
| Passer Fantasy Points | Fantasy points for the passer on the play |
| Fantasy Points Rushing Yards | Fantasy points attributed only to rushing yards on the play |
| Fantasy Points Receiving Yards | Fantasy points attributed only to receiving yards on the play |
| Fantasy Points Receptions | Fantasy points attributed only to receptions on the play |
| Fantasy Points Rushing TD | Fantasy points attributed only to rushing td on the play |
| Fantasy Points Receiving TD | Fantasy points attributed only to receiving td on the play |
| Fantasy Points Playmaker Fumble | Fantasy points attributed only to playmaker fumble (-2 points) on the play |
| Fantasy Points Passer Yards | Fantasy points attributed only to passer yards on the play |
| Fantasy Points Passer TD | Fantasy points attributed only to passer td on the play |
| Fantasy Points Passer Interception | Fantasy points attributed only to passer interception (-2 points) on the play |
If you have questions please comment below so that others who might have the same questions can get answers as well.
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