What a signing: Cowboys has made an excellent trade

TAMPA, Fla. — If the Philadelphia Eagles had a chance to watch their fellow NFC East postseason qualifier, they saw the warning.

It’s a warning the Eagles, truth be told, received in Week 13. They received it also in Weeks 14 and 15 and again in Weeks 17 and 18.

Because despite the Eagles’ early hold on the division, despite their 10-1 season start and despite even the Super Bowl they nearly won 11 months ago, the Eagles began to crumble as the playoffs neared.

And they need look no further than the Dallas Cowboys’ Sunday collapse to the Green Bay Packers to see what might happen if they complete the tumble in a Monday night contest at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

A coaching controversy? Free agent Bill Belichick is already being linked to the Cowboys amid questions about Mike McCarthy’s fitness to break Dallas’ going-on-29-year NFC championship and Super Bowl drought.

A quarterback controversy? After his two interceptions included a pick 6, Dak Prescott told reporters that if McCarthy’s job is in question, the question should extend to his.

Pit that against recent conversation about Prescott, who was named second-team All-Pro this season (meaning he was voted the second-best quarterback in the league by a 50-member panel) and considered a legitimate candidate to become the new richest quarterback.

This postseason collapse will also prompt questions about Micah Parsons’ extension, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s best opportunity in the league and even the Cowboys’ culture that might or might not best position what seems to be a near-perennially talented group of players who fall short even when relatively healthy.

The Eagles’ collapse has already begun. It’s a steeper drop from the heights Philadelphia reached last season and the expectations against which it has since fallen short.

So when the Eagles and Buccaneers play in the final wild-card game at 8:15 p.m. ET Monday, the result won’t prompt a Philadelphia collapse. It will either confirm or dispute the unraveling seams of the defending NFC champions.

Let’s review the questions at stake.

What questions face a reeling Eagles team entering Bucs game?

Can head coach Nick Sirianni quiet doubts about his ability to succeed in the wake of losing both coordinators and reassure team owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman that he is the right man going forward? Of course, the spiral has not lasted interminably. But a franchise that fired Doug Pederson so soon after winning a Super Bowl can’t be counted out on making a move with Sirianni because he qualified for one.

Especially, again, with six-time Super Bowl champion Belichick generating buzz in league circles about the Eagles’ interest in his services.

At quarterback, the Eagles are locked into Jalen Hurts after signing him to a record-breaking extension last offseason. Hurts is still a talented dual threat imposing fear with both his arm and his legs on a team that considers physicality its identity.

“He can extend plays,” Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales told reporters. “That makes it difficult. We’ve got to sometimes cover for six or seven seconds, [and] he’s strong, too.

“He’s not just fast and elusive. He’s strong. So we’re going to have to do a good job plastering and getting him down.”