Punting is an everyday tactic. In fact, do the math and you’ll find that punters are paid, on average, tens of thousands of dollars for every appearance they make. But in 2002, economist David Romer at UC-Berkeley studied National Football League (NFL) games and punt data between 1998 and 2000, and found that teams would almost always be better off “going for it” on fourth down if the distance to-go was four yards or less.
http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2016/09/crazy_things_football_teams_should_always_do.html
