Eagles have never lost with the referee the NFL assigned to wild card round vs. 49ers

Billy Heyen

Eagles have never lost with the referee the NFL assigned to wild card round vs. 49ers image

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.

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Staff Writer