I love this. I've spent a lot of time between plays imagining just what kind of engineering is behind that magic first down line. Of course, I should have known it came down to this: "Our engineering team... worked around the clock through the summer..." Sometimes I wonder if there is any such thing as a correctly scoped project that can be completed during daylight hours on weekdays.
Sometimes there are just hard deadlines you can't do a whole lot about. In this case, it was pretty much hunker down and get it done in 4 months, or wait another year. For a fledgling company, that extra 12 months was probably the difference between success and failure.
Sadly, "around the clock" makes for a sexier story. I'm reminded of a previous job where working late and being super busy was worn like a badge of honor - while 75% of the day was filled with meetings. Also, many people didn't take much vacation time until the last half of December, because they were just too busy all year long to take it beforehand.
