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.

History

The 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

In 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

|2001 || 4 || 6 || 0 || 3rd Eastern || Out of playoffs

Schedule Regular season WeekDateOpponentResultRecordVenue 1 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 at Chicago Enforcers W 13–0 1–3 Soldier Field 5 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 Memphis Maniax W 16–15 3–4 Giants Stadium 8 March 25 at Orlando Rage L 12–17 3–5 Florida Citrus Bowl 9 Chicago Enforcers L 18–23 3–6 Giants Stadium 10 April 8 at Birmingham Thunderbolts W 22–0 4–6 Legion Field

Standings

Roster

Team leaders Legend Led the league

Passing Passing statistics 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 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 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 7-17 (42.3)% on extra point conversion attempts 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 The Hitmen won 8 of 10 scrambles. Donnie Caldwell had a 5–2 record. Chris Brantley went 3–0. 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 2001 New York/New Jersey Hitmen staff Front office Vice president/general manager – Drew Pearson Director of operations – Joe Mack Director of player personnel – David Catapano

Head coaches Head coach – Rusty Tillman

Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks – Greg Briner Running backs – Joe Lombardi Tight ends/offensive line – Edwin Bailey  Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – David Catapano Defensive line – Bill Urbanik Linebackers – Tony Mottola Secondary – Mike Dietzel

Special teams Special teams coordinator – Paul Butcher Head athletic trainer – Keith Abrams

Notes

References