Cordarrelle Patterson scores touchdown on fourth…

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It’s Revenge of the Nerds day in the NFL today, as several teams have successfully converted fourth downs in exactly the way the analytics nerds have been telling them to for years.

The latest to do so was the Falcons, who eschewed a field goal on fourth-and-1 and got a five-yard touchdown run from Cordarrelle Patterson to take a 7-3 lead over the Lions.

Analytics research has continually shown that NFL coaches should go for it on fourth down more often, especially on fourth-and-1, when the success rate is high.

The Falcons effectively got four additional points because head coach Arthur Jones did what the analytics experts say to do, rather than going with the old-school football approach of “take the points.”