The Philadelphia Eagles will be at home on Sunday in the opening round of the NFL playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers.
They’ll also have a referee on the field who has been a good omen for the Eagles in the past.
The NFL announced refereeing assignments for the wild card round on Monday, and Alan Eck gets the call to do the Eagles-49ers game.
In Eck’s three years as an NFL head referee, the Eagles are 3-0 with him on the whistle.
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They also won more than three-quarters of their game with Eck as an umpire and side judge before he was promoted to one of the league’s head refs.
There are obviously a multitude of factors here, one being that the Eagles have simply been very good lately. They win a lot of their games, no matter the ref.
It’s also fascinating to note, though.
For what it’s worth, the 49ers are 1-2 with Eck as the referee.
Eck’s crew each of the past three years has thrown one penalty per game fewer than the league average.
They also usually have a slightly lower than average home winning percentage, but a negligible amount.
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The Eagles enter the playoffs as defending Super Bowl champs, but they had a lot more bumps in this regular season than last.
They also blew their chance on Sunday. A win would’ve gotten them the 2-seed and a matchup with the Packers. But by playing their backups and losing, now they welcome the 49ers.
It should be a great game, and the Eagles will be hoping their history with Eck remains positive.
