Sample NFL play-by-play data with a specified 4th down strategy

This function will return a sample play from the nflscrapR play-by-play data for a given down, distance, yards from the team's goal, using a given strategy on fourth down. The strategies are: empirical, always going for it on fourth down, never going for it on fourth down, go for it if one is less than a certain distance from a first down/touchdown, and go for it if it maximizes one's expected points. This should be primarily used within the `NFLSimulatoR::sample_play()` function.

sample_fourth_down_strategy(
  what_down,
  yards_to_go,
  yards_from_own_goal,
  window_yards_from_own_goal = 1,
  play_by_play_data,
  fourth_down_strategy = "empirical",
  yards_less_than = 5
)

Arguments

what_down

The current down (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th down)

yards_to_go

Number of yards to go until a first down or TD

yards_from_own_goal

The number of yards from the possession team's own goal

window_yards_from_own_goal

Precision parameter for "yards_from_own_goal" (a value of 1 means the sampling will occur within plus or minus 1 of the "yards_from_own_goal" value)

play_by_play_data

A data file from nflscrapR prepped using the prep_pbp_data.R function

fourth_down_strategy

The specific fourth down strategy `empirical`, `always_go_for_it`, `never_go_for_it`,`yds_less_than`,`exp_pts`

yards_less_than

Parameter for `yds_less_than` strategy. If using `yds_less_than` strategy and one is less than `yards_less_than` yards from first down/touchdown, then go for it on fourth down

Value

A tibble containing lots of info

Examples

if (FALSE) {
sample_fourth_down_strategy(what_down = 3,
                      yards_to_go = 2,
                      yards_from_own_goal = 45,
                      window_yards_from_own_goal = 2,
                      play_by_play_data = reg_pbp_2018,
                      fourth_down_strategy = "empirical")
}