| New York/New Jersey Hitmen | |
| Logosize: | 200 |
| Founded: | 1999 |
| League: | XFL |
| Division: | Eastern |
| Stadium: | Giants Stadium |
| Location: | East Rutherford, New Jersey |
| Colors: | Royal blue, silver, black[1] |
| Owner: | World Wrestling Federation |
| Manager: | Drew Pearson |
| Coach: | Rusty Tillman |
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.
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.
See main article: New York Guardians. 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.
|-|2001 || 4 || 6 || 0 || 3rd Eastern || Out of playoffs|}
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Passing statistics | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rtg | |
| 7 | 5 | 3–2 | 83 | 142 | 58.5 | 812 | 6 | 6 | 71.1 | ||
| 6 | 3 | 0–3 | 29 | 64 | 45.3 | 411 | 2 | 2 | 64.0 | ||
| 3 | 2 | 1–1 | 25 | 48 | 52.1 | 329 | 0 | 2 | 56.7 | ||
| — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 74 | 1 | 0 | 158.3 | ||
| — | — | — | 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 statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 82 | 329 | 4.0 | 42 | 3 | |||
| 37 | 115 | 3.1 | 28 | 0 | |||
| 32 | 69 | 2.2 | 14 | 0 | |||
| 26 | 148 | 5.7 | 24 | 0 | |||
| 17 | 42 | 2.5 | 7 | 2 | |||
| 16 | 61 | 3.8 | 19 | 0 | |||
| 8 | 33 | 4.1 | 8 | 0 | |||
| 8 | -35 | -4.4 | 3 | 0 | |||
| 4 | 31 | 7.8 | 21 | 0 | |||
| 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | |||
| 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Totals | 232 | 800 | 3.4 | 42 | 5 | ||
| Receiving statistics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | |
| 29 | 378 | 13.0 | 26 | 4 | ||
| 26 | 268 | 10.4 | 30 | 0 | ||
| 23 | 405 | 18.4 | 77t | 2 | ||
| 15 | 155 | 10.3 | 30 | 0 | ||
| 12 | 125 | 10.4 | 33t | 2 | ||
| 10 | 73 | 7.3 | 14 | 0 | ||
| 6 | 116 | 19.3 | 54 | 1 | ||
| 6 | 24 | 4.0 | 12 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 33 | 8.2 | 16 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 7 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 23 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 11.0 | 11 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 138 | 1,626 | 11.8 | 77 | 9 |
7-17 (42.3)% on extra point conversion attempts[3]
| Total Scoring | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAME | Rush | Rec | Return | XPM | FGM | PTS | |
| 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 21 | ||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | ||
| 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| Donnie Caldwell | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Totals | 5 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 132 |
The 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) | Jamel Williams (1–0) | L | ||
| 2 | Chris Brantley (1–0) | Tony McCall (0–1) | W | ||
| 3 | Chris Brantley (2–0) | Scott Cloman (1–1) | W | ||
| 4 | Chris Brantley (3–0) | Troy Saunders (1–2) | W | ||
| 5 | Donnie Caldwell (1–1) | Donnell Day (1–1) | W | ||
| 6 | Donnie Caldwell (2–1) | Lee Cole (unknown) | W | ||
| 7 | Donnie Caldwell (3–1) | Kevin Cobb (unknown) | W | ||
| 8 | Donnie Caldwell (3–2) | Scott Cloman (5–2) | L | ||
| 9 | Donnie Caldwell (4–2) | Tony McCall (2–3) | W | ||
| 10 | Donnie Caldwell (5–2) | Toya Jones (unknown) | W |
