The New York/New Jersey Hitmen were an American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Hitmen were the members of the Eastern Division of the XFL. The team played their home games in Giants Stadium of the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
 | |
| Founded | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 2001 |
| Based in | East Rutherford, New Jersey |
| Home stadium | Giants Stadium |
| Head coach | Rusty Tillman |
| General manager | Drew Pearson |
| Owner(s) | World Wrestling Federation |
| League | XFL |
| Division | Eastern |
| Colors | Royal blue, silver, black[1] |
History
editThe team's general manager was former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, and New Jersey native, Drew Pearson.
The Hitmen were part of the Eastern Division with the Birmingham Thunderbolts, Orlando Rage and Chicago Enforcers. They finished in 3rd place with a 4-6 record. The head coach was former NFL assistant Rusty Tillman, who was not a fan of the league's gimmicks or personalities – specifically commentator Jesse Ventura, who called him "Gutless Rusty" on a regular basis, as he felt that Tillman's coaching style was too timid. Tillman, ever the professional, brushed off the jabs by Ventura and refused to respond. In the end, Ventura's attempts to goad him failed.
The Hitmen were one of the teams to play in the XFL's inaugural game. Tens of millions of viewers watched the Hitmen, who displayed a stunning lack of competence against the Las Vegas Outlaws in the contest (including a particularly ugly missed field goal and numerous miscues from starting quarterback and New York native Charles Puleri), lose 19–0. The Hitmen's poor performance in that game was a major factor in fan backlash against the league in the weeks that followed and a prime example of the league's failure to live up to expectations; the team benched Puleri in favor of Wally Richardson by Week 3 in hopes of salvaging the season.
The Hitmen's average attendance of roughly 28,000 fans per game was second-highest in the league, behind only the San Francisco Demons.
Revival
editIn December 2018, a revival of the XFL announced its intent to return to East Rutherford. The new team was named the New York Guardians.
Season
edit| Season | W | L | T | Finish | Playoff results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 3rd Eastern | Out of playoffs |
Schedule
editRegular season
edit| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | February 3 | at Las Vegas Outlaws | L 0–19 | 0–1 | Sam Boyd Stadium |
| 2 | February 11 | Birmingham Thunderbolts | L 12–19 | 0–2 | Giants Stadium |
| 3 | February 18 | Orlando Rage | L 12–18 | 0–3 | Giants Stadium |
| 4 | February 24 | at Chicago Enforcers | W 13–0 | 1–3 | Soldier Field |
| 5 | March 3 | Los Angeles Xtreme | L 7–22 | 1–4 | Giants Stadium |
| 6 | March 11 | at San Francisco Demons | W 20–12 | 2–4 | Pacific Bell Park |
| 7 | March 17 | Memphis Maniax | W 16–15 | 3–4 | Giants Stadium |
| 8 | March 25 | at Orlando Rage | L 12–17 | 3–5 | Florida Citrus Bowl |
| 9 | March 31 | Chicago Enforcers | L 18–23 | 3–6 | Giants Stadium |
| 10 | April 8 | at Birmingham Thunderbolts | W 22–0 | 4–6 | Legion Field |
Standings
edit| Eastern Division | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | ||
| Orlando Rage | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 | 207 | 162 | L1 | ||
| Chicago Enforcers | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 163 | 178 | W1 | ||
| New York/New Jersey Hitmen | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 | 110 | 145 | W1 | ||
| Birmingham Thunderbolts | 2 | 8 | 0 | .200 | 131 | 217 | L7 | ||
Roster
edit| Quarterbacks (QB)
Running backs (RB)
Wide receivers (WR)
Tight ends (TE)
|
Offensive linemen (OL)
Defensive linemen (DL)
|
Linebackers (LB)
Defensive backs (DB)
|
Practice squad
Reserve
Rookies in italics
, 7 practice squad |
Team leaders
edit| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led the league | |
Passing
edit| Passing statistics[a] | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rtg | |
| Wally Richardson | 7 | 5 | 3–2 | 83 | 142 | 58.5 | 812 | 6 | 6 | 71.1 | |
| Charles Puleri | 6 | 3 | 0–3 | 29 | 64 | 45.3 | 411 | 2 | 2 | 64.0 | |
| Corte McGuffey | 3 | 2 | 1–1 | 25 | 48 | 52.1 | 329 | 0 | 2 | 56.7 | |
| Zola Davis | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 74 | 1 | 0 | 158.3 | |
| Dino Philyaw | — | — | — | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | |
| Totals | 10 | 10 | 4–6 | 138 | 258 | 53.5 | 1,626 | 9 | 11 | 66.8 | |
Rushing
edit| Rushing statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| Joe Aska | 82 | 329 | 4.0 | 42 | 3 | ||
| Keith Elias | 37 | 115 | 3.1 | 28 | 0 | ||
| Dino Philyaw | 32 | 69 | 2.2 | 14 | 0 | ||
| Wally Richardson | 26 | 148 | 5.7 | 24 | 0 | ||
| Mike Archie | 17 | 42 | 2.5 | 7 | 2 | ||
| Michael Blair | 16 | 61 | 3.8 | 19 | 0 | ||
| Corte McGuffey | 8 | 33 | 4.1 | 8 | 0 | ||
| Charles Puleri | 8 | -35 | -4.4 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Kirby Dar Dar | 4 | 31 | 7.8 | 21 | 0 | ||
| Leo Araguz | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Fred Brock | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 232 | 800 | 3.4 | 42 | 5 | ||
Receiving
edit| Receiving statistics | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | |||
| Zola Davis | 29 | 378 | 13.0 | 26 | 4 | |||
| Anthony DiCosmo | 26 | 268 | 10.4 | 30 | 0 | |||
| Kirby Dar Dar | 23 | 405 | 18.4 | 77t | 2 | |||
| Fred Brock | 15 | 155 | 10.3 | 30 | 0 | |||
| Mike Archie | 12 | 125 | 10.4 | 33t | 2 | |||
| Michael Blair | 10 | 73 | 7.3 | 14 | 0 | |||
| Marcus Hinton | 6 | 116 | 19.3 | 54 | 1 | |||
| Joe Aska | 6 | 24 | 4.0 | 12 | 0 | |||
| Dino Philyaw | 4 | 33 | 8.2 | 16 | 0 | |||
| Keith Elias | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 7 | 0 | |||
| Ryan Collins | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 23 | 0 | |||
| Bob Rosenstiel | 1 | 1 | 11.0 | 11 | 0 | |||
| Totals | 138 | 1,626 | 11.8 | 77 | 9 | |||
Scoring
edit7-17 (42.3)% on extra point conversion attempts[3]
| Total Scoring | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | Rush | Rec | Return | XPM | FGM | PTS | ||
| Zola Davis | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 | ||
| Mike Archie | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | ||
| Leo Araguz | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 21 | ||
| Joe Aska | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | ||
| Kirby Dar Dar | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| Marcus Hinton | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| Donnie Caldwell | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Joey Eloms | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Ron Merkerson | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Ryan Collins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Dino Philyaw | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Totals | 5 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 132 | ||
Scamble
editThe Hitmen won 8 of 10 scrambles. Donnie Caldwell had a 5–2 record. Chris Brantley went 3–0.[4][5]
| Scramble | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Hitmen | Opponent | NAME | Result | ||||
| 1 | Donnie Caldwell (0–1) | @ LV | Jamel Williams (1–0) | L | ||||
| 2 | Chris Brantley (1–0) | BIR | Tony McCall (0–1) | W | ||||
| 3 | Chris Brantley (2–0) | ORL | Scott Cloman (1–1) | W | ||||
| 4 | Chris Brantley (3–0) | @ CHI | Troy Saunders (1–2) | W | ||||
| 5 | Donnie Caldwell (1–1) | LA | Donnell Day (1–1) | W | ||||
| 6 | Donnie Caldwell (2–1) | @ SF | Lee Cole (unknown) | W | ||||
| 7 | Donnie Caldwell (3–1) | MEM | Kevin Cobb (unknown) | W | ||||
| 8 | Donnie Caldwell (3–2) | @ ORL | Scott Cloman (5–2) | L | ||||
| 9 | Donnie Caldwell (4–2) | CHI | Tony McCall (2–3) | W | ||||
| 10 | Donnie Caldwell (5–2) | BIR | Toya Jones (unknown) | W | ||||
Staff
edit| 2001 New York/New Jersey Hitmen staff | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
Special teams
| |||||
Notes
edit- ^ Archie and Davis threw one incompletion each
References
edit- ^ "New York/New Jersey Hitmen Logo Sheet". SSUR.org. Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
- ^ "XFL Standings". USA Today. May 12, 2001. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
- ^ "2001 Hitmen Final Regular Season Stats".
- ^ "2001 XFL Season".
- ^ "Project XFL".
- ^ 2001 New York/New Jersey Hitman Media Guide. XFL. pp. 3–11.
