For those of you keeping track at home of the Hitmen’s narrowing playoff hopes, today is the day of reckoning for Rusty Tillman and his team.
Believe it, or not, the Hitmen have a chance to get to the postseason with a 4-6 record. One game behind Chicago, who stole the advantage last week by coming into Giants Stadium and winning a game that would have eliminated them from the playoffs 23-18, the Hitmen are hanging on by the thinnest of threads.
If Chicago wins against Orlando today, the Hitmen are done.
But the Hitmen play the early game today at 4, and must take care of business in Birmingham before they sit down to watch the Chicago-Orlando game with their rabbits feet and rosary beads.
“We still have a chance for the playoffs,” Tillman said. “I don’t feel good about [not controlling our own destiny] but we’re going to go out there and play our [butts] off.”
The only way the Hitmen can get in now is if they win in Birmingham and the league-leading Rage beats Chicago. If both the Hitmen and the Enforcers win, Chicago goes to the playoff and the Hitmen go back to the jobs they held before the dawn of the XFL in January.
A Hitmen win and a Chicago loss would tie both teams at 4-6. In the XFL, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition, which is tied 1-1 after last week. The second deciding stat would then be divisional records, which would also be tied at 2-4.
Tiebreaker three, which counts net points in divisional games, is exactly even at 10 points each going into today’s deciding games. This factor would tilt the Hitmen’s way with a win today and a Chicago loss.
“We dug a hole for ourselves,” CB Joey Eloms said. “But we’re not hanging our heads. We have to play the cards we were dealt. We need two wins this week to get in and we’re going to do our part to make it happen.”
Once again the quarterback situation is up in the air with starter Wally Richardson listed as doubtful for today’s game after hurting his knee two weeks ago in the loss to Orlando. Last week, Corte McGuffey took the reigns of the Hitmen offense and performed almost admirably in his first-ever, professional start.
The Hitmen had the game in hand last week until Joe Aska fumbled and gave the ball back to Chicago, setting up the winning touchdown with 1:41 left in the game. McGuffey took the Hitmen back down to the doorstep of the end zone, but was picked off on a botched fourth-down attempt as the clock ticked down. It was the second interception of the game thrown by McGuffey.
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The Hitmen sold an average of 28,309 tickets for their five games at Giants Stadium, the team announced.
