Enforcers Touchdown

The Enforcers were the first XFL franchise, announced on 13 June 2000. The no name team was originally rumoured to be named the Skyscrapers prior to the officially naming in August 2000. When the team name was announced in Aug 2000, members of XFLBoard had already correctly guessed the Enforcers name.

The Enforcer's first head coach was the legendary Dick Butkus. However, shortly before the initial player draft (P.A.S.S., Player Allocation and Selection System) Butkus was appointed to head the XFL's competition committee, and Ron Meyer was named head coach of the Enforcers. Meyer and his staff had less than four weeks to review 1,500 players profiles, resumes, and videos. This was to play havoc with the team over their first few games. Training camp for all Eastern Division teams (Chicago, New York/New Jersey, Orlando, and Birmingham) was in Orlando, Florida. The team was on the road for the first two months of their existence before coming back home. Coach Meyer felt that it would be easier on the team to remain in Orlando, and then travel directly to the host cities in the first three games, instead of flying back and forth from Chicago every week for two months.

Even though the players were competitive and never gave up, the team started out by losing their first four games, capped by a humiliating shutout loss to the then-winless NY/NJ Hitmen, 13-0, in a freezing rain. The XFL was so appreciative of the fans that braved the freezing rain and terrible conditions that they were awarded free admission tickets to the next home game. That game was against the fearsome Las Vegas Outlaws, and featured the debut of quarterback Kevin McDougal. McDougal and running back John Avery took it to the Outlaws and landed the team their first victory, 15-13.

In their second game, the team traveled to Los Angeles to play the Xtreme in a Saturday evening game. The game's first glitch came when an NBC broadcast truck ran out of fuel for its generator, and most of the first half was not even broadcast to television viewers. Not much was missed, however, as most of the action came in the fourth quarter and overtime. Regulation play ended in a tie, sending the game into an amazing double overtime before the Xtreme emerged victorious, 39-32. The game actually pushed back the broadcast time for Saturday Night Live, hosted by singer Jennifer Lopez, about one hour. SNL producer Lorne Michaels was reported to be highly upset, and NBC network executives agreed to make concessions in the future.

The team finished the regular season at 5-5 and qualified for the playoffs. They traveled to Los Angeles to face the Xtreme once again, but were defeated without any overtime 33-16. Coach Ron Meyer and his staff did a tremendous job putting the team together and guiding them through their only season with only a few week's preparation time. The epitome of the team, and indeed the entire XFL, was demonstrated by running back John Avery (voted XFL Offensive Player of the Year) after their shutout loss in Week 4 when he thanked all the fans for their support on national television, and dedicated the entire effort of the team to the fans.

Enforcers's Roster