1951 Philadelphia Eagles season
OwnerHappy Hundred
Head coachBo McMillin 2–0 and
Wayne Millner 2–8
Home fieldShibe Park
Results
Record4–8
Division place5th NFL American
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1951 Philadelphia Eagles season was their 19th in the league. The team failed to improve on their previous output of 6–6, winning only four games.[1] The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Off Season

The Eagle hired Bo McMillin who took on the challenge of returning the Philadelphia Eagles to their previous glory was hired on February 8, 1951. However, after just two games (both wins), McMillin underwent surgery for what was believed to be ulcer troubles. The verdict was far worse: stomach cancer, which ended his coaching career. Assistant coach Wayne Miller took over as head coach for the rest of the year. He would resign weeks before the 1952 season citing health as the reason for stepping down.

NFL Draft

The 1951 NFL Draft was held on January 18–19, 1951. This draft would be for players coming out of college and because Baltimore Colts folded after the 1950 season. The NFL placed their players in the 1951 NFL draft. The draft was 30 rounds with eleven teams picking. There was a total of 362 players drafted. 27 former Colts players were drafted including Y. A. Tittle by San Francisco 49ers.

The Eagles would rotate getting the 5th, 6th and 7th picks through the rounds as a results of their 6–6 record in 1950, tying them with Pittsburgh and Detroit.

With the lottery bonus pick as the #1 pick of the draft, the New York Giants choose Kyle Rote a Halfback from Southern Methodist University The 2nd pick in the draft was made by the Chicago Bears. This was the Baltimore Colts 1st round pick that would have had, that was earlier traded to Chicago. With this pick they choose Bob Williams a Quarterback from the Notre Dame.

With their 1st pick as the 7th selection in the 1st round the Eagles choose, Ebert Van Buren, brother of Steve Van Buren,[2] a Fullback/Halfback out of LSU.

Player selections

The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler [3] = Hall of Famer
Rd Pick Player Position School Rd Pick Player Position School
1 7 Ebert Van Buren Back LSU 1 8 Chet Mutryn
(From Detroit Lions)		 Back Xavier
2 21 Pick Taken by Washington Redskins 3 32 Al Bruno End Kentucky
4 43 Fran Nagle Back Nebraska 5 57 Jack Dwyer Back Loyola (CA)
6 68 Ken Farragut Center Mississippi 7 79 Frank Boydston Back Baylor
8 93 Jack Richards End Arkansas 9 104 Denny Doyle Guard Tulane
10 116 Louis Schaufele Back Arkansas 11 130 Bob Pope Tackle Kentucky
12 141 Henry Rich Back Arizona State 13 152 Pete Mastellone Center Miami (FLA)
14 166 Bobby Walston End Georgia 15 177 Bobby North Back Georgia Tech
16 188 Hal Hatfield End USC 17 202 Hal Waggoner Back Tulane
18 213 Bill Weeks Back Iowa State 19 224 Jack Bove Tackle West Virginia
20 238 John Glorioso Back Missouri 21 249 Neal Franklin Tackle SMU
22 260 Jack Rucker Back Mississippi State 23 274 Jack Bighead End Pepperdine
24 285 Tony Kotowski End Mississippi State 25 296 Glenn Drahn Back Iowa
26 310 Billy Stewart Back Mississippi State 27 321 Bob Winship Tackle Rice
28 332 Marv Stendel End Arkansas 29 346 Roscoe Hansen Tackle North Carolina
30 357 John "Model-T" Ford Quarterback Hardin–Simmons .

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 30 at Chicago Cardinals W 17–14 1–0 Comiskey Park 16,129
2 October 6 San Francisco 49ers W 21–14 2–0 Shibe Park 23,432
3 October 14 at Green Bay Packers L 24–37 2–1 City Stadium 18,489
4 October 21 at New York Giants L 24–26 2–2 Yankee Stadium 28,656
5 October 28 Washington Redskins L 23–27 2–3 Shibe Park 20,437
6 November 4 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 34–13 3–3 Forbes Field 19,649
7 November 11 at Cleveland Browns L 17–20 3–4 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 36,571
8 November 18 Detroit Lions L 10–28 3–5 Shibe Park 25,350
9 November 25 Pittsburgh Steelers L 13–17 3–6 Shibe Park 15,537
10 December 2 at Washington Redskins W 35–21 4–6 Griffith Stadium 23,738
11 December 9 New York Giants L 7–23 4–7 Shibe Park 19,322
12 December 16 Cleveland Browns L 9–24 4–8 Shibe Park 16,263
Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text.

Game recaps

Week 2 vs SF 49ers

Week 1: Philadelphia Eagles (2–0–0) vs San Francisco 49ers (1–1–0)
Period 1 2 34Total
49ers 7 0 0714
Eagles 7 0 7721

at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • Date: October 6, 1951
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game weather: degrees, wind mph
  • [1]
Game information

Week 9 vs Pitt Steelers

Week 1: Philadelphia Eagles (3–6–0) vs Pittsburgh Steelers (3–5–1)
Period 1 2 34Total
Steelers 10 7 0017
Eagles 0 6 0713

at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • Date: November 25, 1951
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game weather: degrees, wind mph
  • [2]
Game information

Week 12 vs Cleveland Browns

The Eagles lost for the 4th time to the former AAFC member. They were out played by the American Conference champions Cleveland Browns, as they could only manage a net passing yard total of 8 yards for the game on 9 completions. The Eagles forced the Browns to turn the ball over 4 times, and sacked Otto Graham in the end zone for a safety as the only bright points of the game for the Eagles.

Week 1: Philadelphia Eagles (4–8) vs Cleveland Browns (11–1)
Period 1 2 34Total
Browns 7 3 7724
Eagles 0 0 279

at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • Date: December 16, 1951
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
  • Game weather: degrees, wind mph
  • [3]
Game information

Standings

NFL American Conference
W L T PCT CONF PF PA STK
Cleveland Browns 11 1 0 .917 9–0 331 152 W11
New York Giants 9 2 1 .818 7–2–1 254 161 W4
Washington Redskins 5 7 0 .417 4–5 183 296 L1
Pittsburgh Steelers 4 7 1 .364 3–5–1 183 235 W1
Philadelphia Eagles 4 8 0 .333 3–6 234 264 L2
Chicago Cardinals 3 9 0 .250 0–8 210 287 W1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

The Philadelphia eagles finished with a 4–8–0 record and failed to make it to the 1951 NFL Championship Game. The game was played between the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Rams in Los Angeles on December 23, 1951, with an attendance of 59,475.

Roster

(All time List of Philadelphia Eagles players in franchise history)

= 1951 Pro Bowl[4] = Hall of Famer
NO. Player AGE POS GP GS WT HT YRS College
Bo McMillin 56 Coach 2 record
2–0		 163 5–9 1st Centre[5]
Wayne Millner 38 Coach 10 record
2–8		 189 6–1 1st Notre Dame
80 Neill Armstrong 25 E-DB 12 189 6–2 4 Oklahoma State
74 Walt Barnes 33 G 12 238 6–1 3 LSU
60 Chuck Bednarik+ 26 LB-C 12 233 6–3 2 Pennsylvania
10 Adrian Burk 24 QB-Punter 12 12 190 6–2 1 Baylor
36 Gerry Cowhig 30 LB-FB-DB 11 215 6–2 4 Notre Dame
33 Russ Craft 32 DB-HB 12 178 5–9 5 Alabama
53 Ken Farragut 23 C-LB 11 240 6–4 Rookie Mississippi
64 Mario Giannelli 31 MG-G 10 265 6–0 3 Boston College
86 Bud Grant 24 E-DE 12 199 6–3 Rookie Minnesota
89 John Green 30 DE-E 1 0 192 6–1 4 Tulsa
73 Roscoe Hansen 22 T-DT 9 215 6–3 Rookie North Carolina
78 Mike Jarmoluk 29 DT-T-MG 12 232 6–5 5 Temple
76 Bucko Kilroy 30 G-MG-T-DT 12 243 6–2 8 Notre Dame
Temple
52 Vic Lindskog+ 37 C 11 203 6–1 7 Stanford
88 Jay MacDowell 32 T-DE 12 217 6–2 5 Washington
39 Bill Mackrides 26 QB 6 182 5–11 4 Nevada-Reno
67 John Magee 28 G 12 220 5–10 3 La-Lafayette,
Rice
49 Pat McHugh 32 DB-HB 8 166 5–11 4 Georgia Tech
81 Red O'Quinn 26 DB-E 5 195 6–2 1 Wake Forest
43 Jim Parmer 25 FB-HB 11 193 6–0 3 Oklahoma State,
Texas A&M
35 Pete Pihos 28 E-DE 12 210 6–1 4 Indiana
21 Al Pollard 23 HB-FB 6 196 6–0 Rookie Army,
Loyola Marymount
30 Bosh Pritchard 32 HB 6 164 5–11 9 Georgia Tech,VMI
11 John Rauch 24 QB-DB 4 195 6–1 2 Georgia
40 Frank Reagan 32 B 12 182 5–11 10 Pennsylvania
68 Ray Romero 24 G 7 213 5–11 Rookie Kansas State
31 Dan Sandifer 24 DB-HB 12 190 6–1 3 LSU
27 Clyde Scott 27 HB-DB 12 174 6–0 2 Arkansas,Navy
79 Vic Sears 33 T-DT 12 223 6–3 10 Oregon State
72 Dick Steere 24 G 5 240 6–4 Rookie Drake
75 Walt Stickel 29 T-DT 11 247 6–3 5 Pennsylvania
Tulsa
45 Joe Sutton 27 DB-HB 11 180 5–11 2 Temple
17 Ebert Van Buren 27 DB-LB-FB-HB 12 210 6–2 Rookie LSU
15 Steve Van Buren 31 HB 10 200 6–0 7 LSU
83 Bobby Walston 23 E-HB-K 12 190 6–0 Rookie Georgia
44 Norm Willey 24 DE-G-E 11 224 6–2 1 Marshall
70 Al Wisert 31 G-T-DT 12 214 6–1 8 Michigan
41 Frank Ziegler 28 HB-DB 12 0 175 5–11 2 Georgia Tech
38 Players
Team Average		 27.8 12 206.1 6–1.0 3.4

Postseason

References

  1. ^ 1951 Philadelphia Eagles
  2. ^ ISBN 978-1-59213-449-6 The Eagles Encyclopedia
  3. ^ Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
  4. ^ Players are identified as a 1951 All-Star.
  5. ^ Bo McMillin at the College Football Hall of Fame

External links

1951 NFL season
Philadelphia Eagles seasons
Categories