Competitive Intelligence, The Super Bowl and a Very Small Detail

In the book, Greatest Team Ever: The Dallas Cowboys Dynasty of the 1990s, (Norm Hitzges and Ron St. Angelo), Norm Hitzges tells the story of “competitive intelligence” incident that had a powerful effect on the outcome of Super Bowl XXVIII, played in 1994.

According to NFL.com,

“To win, the Cowboys had to rally from a 13-6 halftime deficit. Buffalo had forged its lead on Thurman Thomas's 4-yard touchdown run and a pair of field goals by Steve Christie, including a 54-yard kick, the longest in Super Bowl history.

But just 55 seconds into the second half, Thomas was stripped of the ball by Dallas defensive tackle Leon Lett. Safety James Washington recovered and weaved his way 46 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 13-13.”

This recap doesn’t tell the whole story of this fumble and recovery for a touchdown. The fumble was no accident and the impact it had on the game was extremely important. The Cowboys’ accidental discovery of a bit of intelligence ended up turning the entire game around. I’ll relate the story as I have heard it from Norm Hitzges.

As you know, there is an incredible amount of hype and press coverage leading up to the Super Bowl. Reporters are everywhere and no story is too small to receive significant coverage.

It just so happens that the day before the game, Buffalo Bills coach Norm Levy was being interviewed for television. He was down on the field with his team, but talking to reporters as his players walked through some drills. Coach Levy didn’t know that the camera was catching some of his players in the background. He probably thought that the camera was tight on him. Had he known that his team was on display, he certainly would have changed his angle.

Turns out that the Bills’ offense was adding a new wrinkle especially for the Super Bowl game. In the background, almost off camera, the offense was walking through a new play from shotgun formation. The idea was that the Bills’ running back, Thurman Thomas would take a direct snap from the center rather than the ball going through the quarterback’s hands. This type of play is meant to confuse a defense and create a quick strike opportunity. This play might be most effective in a passing situation, where the quarterback can fake the reception of the snap and distract the defense while the running back gets up to speed with the ball. This is a play that Buffalo had not used all year, and they figured that the element of surprise would work in their favor in the biggest game of the year.

In their hotel rooms, the Dallas Cowboys’ defense was watching Coach Levy’s interview. The Defensive Coordinator happened to pick up on the trick play being practiced in the background. It was almost sheer luck (or very thorough attention to all things related to the next day’s game) that he noticed at all, but the play caught his attention and he made note of the Bills’ formation.

He immediately called a meeting of the Cowboys’ defensive players. He explained what he had observed happening behind the coach during the interview. The defenders created a code word that would be called out if they observed the formation on the field during the game.

On Sunday, at the halftime break, the Bills lead 13-6 and were playing very tough football against the Cowboys. Just after halftime, the Bills had the ball again and in less than a minute, they had moved the ball to midfield. With only 55 seconds played in the second half, the Bills decided it was time to do something unexpected and break the game open. As they lined up in shotgun formation, the Cowboys began to yell their code word, indicating the trick play. Sure enough, the ball was snapped, the quarterback faked backwards as though he had received the snap while Thomas attempted to grab the ball out of the air and start around the left side of the line.

Completely prepared, Leon Lett of the Cowboys’ defense raced around the left side of the line and hit Thomas before the ball was secured. Thomas went one way and the ball went the other. Dallas’ safety, James Washington, scooped up the ball and returned it 46 yards for the tying touchdown.

This dramatic turn of events apparently demoralized the Bills while pumping up the Cowboys. The Bills did not score again all game and the Cowboys went on to win the game, 30-13.

So, what are the takeaways (pardon the fumble reference) of this Competitive Intelligence story?

1. Keep your eyes open and ear to the ground. Information is always in the air. You just have to know where the most likely places are to intercept that intelligence. (Too many people try to get that one silver bullet that they completely miss the dozens of little arrows that go by constantly)
2. Make sure that you can interpret what is happening. Any regular fan sitting at home watching the interview would certainly have missed the significance of the play being practiced. Find people that know how to interpret data and trust their opinion.
3. Everyone on the team needs to know how to assimilate and react to the intelligence. If not, there will be no coordinated action based on the information and the value will be compromised, at best.
4. Counterintelligence – Make sure that your secrets stay safe. Who knows where the camera is pointed, even at seemingly insignificant times?
5. Do something with the intelligence. Information that doesn’t result in improvement is interesting but completely worthless. And, there really isn’t any glory in telling someone you knew something was going to happen if you didn’t take action on the information. Hindsight may be 20/20, but for CI purposes, it may be very low on the value scale.

I might recommend a very fertile area of intelligence that should be mined often and consistently. Your current client list is full of people or companies that have shopped the competition, listened to their pitches or even have been previous clients of your competitors. If you want to stake out a very promising bit of territory and set up listening ears, I would make sure to include the current client base.

If you need some help incorporating these ideas, give me a call. I’d be happy to talk you through. (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801-838-9600 x5050)