Ashley Fox | Swaggering loss: The Birds are still searching for that winning attitude.

At the NovaCare Complex yesterday, there was a lot of talk about swagger and attitude, about how you develop them, and about which comes first. Brian Dawkins, the Eagles' philosopher king, explained the complex equation this way: attitude + wins = swagger.

Suffice it to say, at 3-4 and without back-to-back victories this season, the Eagles are operating at a swagger deficit. The attitude part? At this point, even that's in question.

It doesn't take much in the National Football League to generate momentum - another precursor to attitude and swagger - and the Eagles will have their best shot to date on Sunday when they host the Dallas Cowboys. This game can turn around the Eagles' season, or it can essentially bury it. Beat the Cowboys, who at 6-1 are tied with Green Bay for the NFC's best record, and the Eagles finally will notch a quality win that can springboard them into the second half of the season. Lose, and they might as well get ready for the draft.

With a loss to Dallas at home, the Eagles would be 3-5 and 0-3 in the NFC East, and no better than any of the other NFC bottom-feeders. Want the names? St. Louis. Atlanta. Minnesota. Those are the other teams that, like the Birds, are dwelling in the cellar of their division. Think those teams have a shot at the playoffs? Didn't think so.

So despite all the convoluted definitions of attitude and swagger provided by players yesterday, this week is pretty simple. Win, and you can strut. Lose, and you might as well go home.

"We can't get caught up in how big this game is and everybody talking about it on the outside, the Dallas Cowboys and their record and our record," Donovan McNabb said, "because when we step between those white lines, it doesn't matter what your record is. (If) we do what we need to do to come out with this win, we'll put ourselves in great position."

Well, better position, at least. There's a huge difference between 4-4 and 3-5, especially with the Patriots looming in a few weeks. Washington on the road is one thing. New England on the road is something else altogether - just ask the Redskins.

Like Brian Westbrook and Dawkins, McNabb talked extensively yesterday about swagger. He readily acknowledged that the Eagles don't have the edge that they did in 2004, when they constantly exerted their offensive will on opponents. But just because the Birds don't have Terrell Owens on their roster doesn't mean they can't or won't ever have a swagger, McNabb insisted.