Gridiron · Game Center · 2025
The Fourth Down Room
Go, kick or punt — and what the win probability said.
Went for it on 31.5% of 124 fourth downs where the rest of the league goes 19.2%.
How the baseline is built · no recommendation engine ▸
There is no recommendation engine here. Scoring the choice a coach did NOT make would mean inventing a win-probability figure for a play that never happened, so the baseline is the league’s own revealed behaviour instead — what all 32 teams actually did from the same spot, 2018–2026.
3,793 real fourth-down decisions in the 2025 regular season. 288 more snaps are set aside — penalties that wiped the play before it resolved, and victory-formation kneels — because neither one decided anything.
Every fourth down. Every regular-season fourth down that resolved into a real decision. 32 of 32 teams clear 20 decisions in every state on the field; a grid cell under 25 decisions is withheld rather than painted.
There is no recommendation engine here. Scoring the choice a coach did NOT make would mean inventing a win-probability figure for a play that never happened, so the baseline is the league’s own revealed behaviour instead — what all 32 teams actually did from the same spot, 2018–2026.
Painted after the last game's play-by-play landed · the room repaints as each game's play-by-play lands, usually within two hours of the final, or the next morning when its release runs late
Reading today’s slate…
The signature object · and the filter
The decision grid
Pooled 2018–2026, so every cell is thousands of decisions rather than a season of noise. Read the middle of the top row before trusting anything else: the league goes for it LESS at the opponent's 16-25 than at the 26-38, because 16-25 is a comfortable field goal and 26-38 is a long one. A grid that fell smoothly with field position would be a grid that had lost the plot.
League 2018–2026
| To gain | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n/aFourth and 7-10 from the Goal line is not a possible state. | |||||||
n/aFourth and 11+ from the Goal line is not a possible state. |
Numeral = go-rate · small figure = decisions in the cell · n/a = a state the field cannot produce
League 2018–2026 · every state on the field
The call sheet
The bar is what coaches did. The rule across it is what this room's own win-probability means say they should have done: on every cell where all three choices cleared 25 plays, the model prefers going when going returned at least as much win probability as the better of kicking and punting, weighted by the decisions actually made there. Neither number is a forecast of a road not taken — both are measured on the plays themselves.
On fourth and 4-6 the league went for it 14.6% of the time while its own returns favoured going on 100.0% of the same 901 snaps — the widest gap on the sheet.
Thin sample: 5 qualified · too few rows to read as a set
Go over expected · every state on the field
The aggression ladder
Raw go-rate lies about who is aggressive, because it does not know which spots a team stood in. Go over expected does: it subtracts the league's own pooled rate in the SAME cells, weighted by how often this team was there. The two orderings are not the same list, and where a team moves between them is the finding.
Decisions made
- 1
New YorkGiants+12.231% of 124New York Giants, go over expected 12.2 points, 31 percent of 124 decisions - 2
New YorkJets+11.129% of 139New York Jets, go over expected 11.1 points, 29 percent of 139 decisions - 3
ArizonaCardinals+9.024% of 117Arizona Cardinals, go over expected 9.0 points, 24 percent of 117 decisions - 4
DallasCowboys+8.230% of 112Dallas Cowboys, go over expected 8.2 points, 30 percent of 112 decisions - 5
CarolinaPanthers+8.232% of 121Carolina Panthers, go over expected 8.2 points, 32 percent of 121 decisions - 6
BuffaloBills+7.732% of 101Buffalo Bills, go over expected 7.7 points, 32 percent of 101 decisions - 7
BaltimoreRavens+7.323% of 108Baltimore Ravens, go over expected 7.3 points, 23 percent of 108 decisions - 8
Las VegasRaiders+6.025% of 130Las Vegas Raiders, go over expected 6.0 points, 25 percent of 130 decisions - 9
DetroitLions+6.027% of 116Detroit Lions, go over expected 6.0 points, 27 percent of 116 decisions - 10
TennesseeTitans+5.524% of 145Tennessee Titans, go over expected 5.5 points, 24 percent of 145 decisions - 11
New OrleansSaints+4.226% of 130New Orleans Saints, go over expected 4.2 points, 26 percent of 130 decisions - 12
WashingtonCommanders+3.825% of 105Washington Commanders, go over expected 3.8 points, 25 percent of 105 decisions - 13
Green BayPackers+3.825% of 102Green Bay Packers, go over expected 3.8 points, 25 percent of 102 decisions - 14
MiamiDolphins+3.520% of 113Miami Dolphins, go over expected 3.5 points, 20 percent of 113 decisions - 15
Tampa BayBuccaneers+3.423% of 126Tampa Bay Buccaneers, go over expected 3.4 points, 23 percent of 126 decisions - 16
ClevelandBrowns+3.220% of 147Cleveland Browns, go over expected 3.2 points, 20 percent of 147 decisions - 17
AtlantaFalcons+2.922% of 129Atlanta Falcons, go over expected 2.9 points, 22 percent of 129 decisions - 18
Kansas CityChiefs+2.726% of 123Kansas City Chiefs, go over expected 2.7 points, 26 percent of 123 decisions - 19
PhiladelphiaEagles+1.917% of 117Philadelphia Eagles, go over expected 1.9 points, 17 percent of 117 decisions - 20
New EnglandPatriots+1.625% of 102New England Patriots, go over expected 1.6 points, 25 percent of 102 decisions - 21
Los AngelesRams+1.329% of 105Los Angeles Rams, go over expected 1.3 points, 29 percent of 105 decisions - 22
IndianapolisColts+1.226% of 103Indianapolis Colts, go over expected 1.2 points, 26 percent of 103 decisions - 23
ChicagoBears+1.023% of 126Chicago Bears, go over expected 1.0 points, 23 percent of 126 decisions - 24
MinnesotaVikings+0.420% of 122Minnesota Vikings, go over expected 0.4 points, 20 percent of 122 decisions - 25
JacksonvilleJaguars+0.325% of 118Jacksonville Jaguars, go over expected 0.3 points, 25 percent of 118 decisions - 26
CincinnatiBengals−0.318% of 111Cincinnati Bengals, go over expected -0.3 points, 18 percent of 111 decisions - 27
PittsburghSteelers−1.220% of 116Pittsburgh Steelers, go over expected -1.2 points, 20 percent of 116 decisions - 28
Los AngelesChargers−1.317% of 119Los Angeles Chargers, go over expected -1.3 points, 17 percent of 119 decisions - 29
San Francisco49ers−1.923% of 97San Francisco 49ers, go over expected -1.9 points, 23 percent of 97 decisions - 30
DenverBroncos−3.916% of 124Denver Broncos, go over expected -3.9 points, 16 percent of 124 decisions - 31
HoustonTexans−6.914% of 139Houston Texans, go over expected -6.9 points, 14 percent of 139 decisions - 32
SeattleSeahawks−12.211% of 106Seattle Seahawks, go over expected -12.2 points, 11 percent of 106 decisions
Bar diverges from the league rate · under 20 decisions the figure is withheld, not guessed
2025 · every state on the field
What each choice actually returned
Mean win probability added, measured on the plays themselves — not a forecast of the road not taken. Every figure below is withheld under 25 plays, because the rare choice in a cell is rare precisely because it is unusual, and its mean is the loudest number in the row for exactly that reason.
Went for it
88223% of choices
Mean WP added+0.011
Measured on 618 of them — the rest sit in cells too thin to average.
Converted60.8%
Drive ended in points43.5%
Kicked
97826% of choices
Mean WP added+0.005
Measured on 893 of them — the rest sit in cells too thin to average.
Made86.9%
Punted
1,93351% of choices
Mean WP added+0.002
Measured on 1,907 of them — the rest sit in cells too thin to average.