IRVING, Texas – We know about what Tom Landry, Tex Schramm and Gil Brandt meant in turning the Dallas Cowboys into America’s Team.

But do you know about the impact of A. Salam Qureishi?

FiveThirtyEight and ESPN Films’ digital shorts series Signals has put together a fascinating look at Qureishi and how the Cowboys employed his computer expertise to help map their draft strategies.

Qureishi knew nothing about football. The Cowboys knew little to nothing about computer analysis. Schramm put the two together and the Cowboys eventually made it to five Super Bowls and had 20 straight winning seasons.

The Cowboys were far ahead of their time in using computer programming in scouting players and Brandt remembers many times in which teams would mock their use of it. When the Cowboys held up the 1964 draft while waiting for medical reports on Mel Renfro, Brandt once said a team joked them, “What, is your computer broken?”

Click here to view the digital short and be prepared to be amazed at how much work went into the process.