Do the 3-8 Eagles lack leadership?

Players on the Eagles walk through a rotunda in the team's training facility every day, with motivational quotes encircling them as they pass. One is an anonymous quote about leadership, a topic that's become a popular discussion point during the Eagles' seven-game losing streak and leading into Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Before last week's loss to the Carolina Panthers, Troy Vincent identified locker-room leadership as the biggest difference between the good teams and bad teams he played on. One day later, Brian Dawkins said on ESPN that the Eagles' current plight would not have occurred on his teams because "of the character guys we had in our locker room, the leaders we had in our locker room, and the amount of the accountability that was there."

Yet inside the Eagles locker room, they insist there's leadership and accountability - there's just a dearth of plays.

Leadership is a nebulous term, one often mentioned but seldom defined. The Eagles added DeMeco Ryans during the offseason, hoping his celebrated leadership would help the defense. They have veterans in many key positions with the intention of guiding younger players. But they still fail to win, still make head-scratching plays, and it probably would help to have Vincent's and Dawkins' skills as much as it would help to have their leadership.

"It's always easy to look back at a situation; everyone has 20-20 vision," said Eagles wide receiver Jason Avant, one of the leaders in the locker room. "No one really knows the crux of it. We've had losing seasons with those guys here. Is that a credit to a lack of leadership? When you lose, it's easy to say there's not leadership. It's just that the team has not been playing well."

Joel Fish, a psychologist and the director of the Center for Sport Psychology in Philadelphia who has worked with athletes for 25 years and all four Philadelphia major professional teams, identified six traits of a great team: talent, chemistry, coaching, mental toughness, motivation, and leadership.

"If you have leaders and you don't have those other five traits, you're not going to get results," Fish said.

Fish spoke about leadership in sports in general, but not about the Eagles in particular. He said a leader commands respect, serves as a role model, is reliable and dependable, reinforces positive habits, refocuses the team's attention by providing perspective, and can effectively reprimand his teammates. These are what he labels the six R's of leadership.

A football locker room is a unique work environment. There are 53 players, not to mention eight practice-squad players and injured players. They spend much of their time split into different position groups and in different meetings. And the season has many different stages.

"Leadership to me, in football, is different because different leadership skills are required four games into the season, eight games into the season, and where we are," Fish said. "Because the rhythm of the football week is so different, I think the skill-set for leaders in football still goes back to the six R's, but how you apply them is different than in other sports."

Fish said leaders rise in football regardless of the numbers, but their influence is varied. That's why it's "important to find the right messenger to convey the message."

After a tumultuous 2006 season, Giants coach Tom Coughlin instituted an 11-player leadership council in 2007, and the Giants proceeded to win the Super Bowl. Those 11 players helped patrol the locker room.

Vincent acknowledged that every player leads differently, but he said he needed to first produce on the field before he could even consider saying something to Dawkins or Bobby Taylor.

"Every individual leads differently, but it takes someone to stand up, and it's a shared responsibility," Vincent said.

Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin said there's a misconception that leadership in a football locker room is about being vocal. He said it is instead about "being about it."

Ryans' leadership has been celebrated throughout his career, to the point that he earned the nickname "Cap'n 'Meco." Yet he admitted that he doesn't get in players' faces and that his idea of leading is being himself and setting an example.

"When it comes down to it, we're all grown men," Ryans said. "You get paid just like the next man, so you have to prepare and do your job, just like the next man."

Reid said he has been asked who the leaders are so often that it's become a redundant question. He identified Ryans, multiple defensive linemen, and safety Kurt Coleman as leaders on defense, and mentioned Brent Celek on offense. Michael Vick is also a leader in the locker room, but he's been injured.

Besides Ryans and Vick, though, those aren't the frontline players. And that's one of the biggest differences between the Eagles now and when Vincent and Dawkins were on the roster. Vincent, Dawkins, Hugh Douglas, Jeremiah Trotter, and other big-name players were Pro Bowlers who had command of the locker room.

"We had more big-name leadership," said Avant, who's been with the Eagles since 2006. "The top-of-the-roster guys were outspoken. There are a lot of guys here who don't say anything, who go out and do their business, and guys can respect that."

Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, a former Pro Bowler, insisted that the leaders do not need to be the best players on the team. He identified little-used cornerback Brandon Hughes as a leader because Hughes knows his role, does not complain, and continues to work.

"I look at him and model myself after him," Rodgers-Cromartie said. "I say, 'You motivate me, bro! When you're out here and keep going, I'm going to keep going!' "

But it takes a name to deliver a message. Celek feels strongly that he must be accountable to reporters and the fans, and he's made efforts to do so during the losing streak. Maclin is the same way. Yet when players and coaches discuss the Eagles' problems, they do not talk about leadership as much as missed plays.

Reid said this week that the Eagles have a strong locker room. His evidence is that despite the losing streak, he feels the team has practiced hard, shown up for meetings, and stayed on schedule.

So the problem might not be the leaders on the roster, but rather the roster itself. The Eagles are not making the plays, and they're losing games as a result. Better leaders might help, but better players might help more.

"I can't get up in front of you and say when Brian Dawkins was here, it was the same," Avant said. "But I will not say if Brian Dawkins were here, we wouldn't be in the same position we're in."