 Cleveland started the season by beating the previous year's NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles and went on to win the NFL championship over the Los Angeles Rams.Cleveland finished the 1951 season with an 11–1 record and again reached the championship game, but lost this time to the Rams.Gibron was used primarily as a messenger guard early in his career – primarily as a substitute used to send plays in to the quarterback – but later developed into an anchor of Cleveland's offensive line, helping protect Graham and open up space for the team's backs to run.