Referee for Super Bowl LIX is best-case scenario for the Eagles

AFC Championship Game: Buffalo Bills v Kansas City Chiefs
AFC Championship Game: Buffalo Bills v Kansas City Chiefs | Todd Rosenberg/GettyImages

While the pregame hype surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs once again locking horns in Super Bowl 59, the conversation has been dumbed down to such a sharp degree that commissioner Roger Goodell actually had to field questions about the best in the AFC getting favorable treatment from the officials.

Those who choose to delve into tin foil hat land have decided that the Chiefs are only in their third consecutive Super Bowl because of some advantageous treatment from the referees, despite the fact that statements implying the league is coordinating to essentially fix games have no basis in reality.

Eagles fans can put to bed any claims of officiating possibly giving Kansas City an edge, as the lead referee for this game has shown to be incredibly kind to Philly over the years while consistently making it tough for Kansas City to pull out some wins.

Ron Torbert, who recently officiated the Bengals-Rams Super Bowl just a few years ago, will be in charge of this game. While his group does call the third-most penalties in the league out of the 17 referee crews in the NFL, the Eagles are 9-4 in games Tolbert has officiated. Kansas City, meanwhile, is only 5-5 with Tolbert.

Referee assignment for Super Bowl 59 should be good news for Eagles fans

The Eagles have enough to worry about without the officials even entering into the discussion. After a fairly lukewarm regular-season showing, the Kansas City offense seems to have finally hit their stride when the calendar flipped over to January.

The Eagles need to slow down a Patrick Mahomes-led passing game while also figuring out how to replicate their splendid Super Bowl 57 performance in which they put up 35 points on Steve Spagnuolo's defense. It seems unlikely someone who is that creative and effective will get burned twice on the biggest stage.

Kansas City ranks second in the NFL in terms of fewest penalties per game, and they rank fifth in yards lost due to penalties. Philadelphia ranked ninth and third, respectively, in those two categories. However, Philadelphia has the second-fewest number of penalties called on their opponents this season.

The officials should not be a talking point, but it seems as though this line of inquiry is not dieing down anytime soon. If the Eagles don't beat the Chiefs, it will be because they didn't take advantage of the opportunities they were given in this game.

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