The subject of Wade Phillips' future, particularly as it pertains to the Cowboys and Eagles Saturday night showdown in the opening round of the playoffs, has been a much bandied one of late. This is no surprise, as Phillips' job security has managed to remain a hot-button issue for most of the year, for good or ill.
But in Philadelphia, it is the job security of their quarterback that has become a source of contention recently. Many see the 2009 season, barring a Super Bowl appearance, or a henceforth astounding effort, as Donovan McNabb's last hurrah in the green and black of the Eagles.
This is no great surprise, as McNabb, much like Phillips, has been scrutinized for just about as long as he's been in town -- which in McNabb's case is 11 years. Before now, the talk has been the product mostly of disgruntled outsiders.
The intensity, and the rational behind this latest wave of questioning, is enough to give the topic some serious relevance as we move closer to Saturday night's match-up in Arlington. Consider Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Daily News, whose offering today deconstructs the pros and cons of McNabb's presence on this Eagles team:
"The answer here is not obvious until you look at the contract," Hofmann argues. "McNabb has trade value only as long as he is under contract - which means you trade him now or you have to extend him for X-number of years after the season, with a new signing bonus and plenty of color and pageantry (and a likely one-way ticket out the door for Kevin Kolb, whom you have previously identified as your future).
"If the Eagles lose tomorrow, does anybody really think they are going to do that? Or that they should?"
Hofmann continues that naming Kevin Kolb--the former University of Houston standout who was drafted by the Eagles in the second round of the 2007 draft--the starter would be a gamble...
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"If he never gets a chance, though, you never find out," Hofmann said. "This is a very young Eagles team. If it were an old core, about to collapse, I could see the logic of McNabb staying to the end - but that isn't the reality."
The man makes a solid point here. So what do you think? If the Cowboys win tomorrow night, will it be their last over an Eagles team with McNabb at the helm? Ladies and gentlemen, yours in the comments.
