Why Patriots fans should be optimistic following Sunday's game against the Eagles

While the result was not exactly ideal for the New England Patriots, and their fans, you can definitely look back on Sunday night's game against the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles and call today a "Moral Victory Monday".

It's no secret that the Patriots were not favored in this game, but what is always favored when a game is played at Gillette Stadium is the odds that the weather will be unpredictable - which in yesterday's game's case, played into the Eagles' favor.

After the first quarter, Philadelphia led New England by a score of 16-0, and wound wind up winning the game by a score of 25-20. Now, how do you get moral victory out of that?

The offense went down the field and actually scored multiple times

During the contest, Mac Jones and co. looked like a cohesive offense at multiple times during the game.

The first came when Jones led the Patriots, who were still scoreless at the time, on a 68-yard drive that ultimately led in a touchdown pass to Hunter Henry and the second came just a few minutes later when he did the same thing - only it was a 63-yard drive and this was with two and a half minutes to go in the first half.

The final one came in the fourth quarter when he marched down the field to pull New England within five with just over three and a half minutes to play in the game.

The defense was solid all night in all aspects

Now, in spite of losing the game, the defense played very stout. In fact, they only allowed the Eagles 17 first downs in the game alone 14 on actual offensive plays. They also only allowed 154 passing yards, to 97 rushing yards.

While it's only one game, it's still very solid, especially considering they were playing Jalen Hurts who can carve up even the best defenses with his dual-threat ability - something the Patriots have not done well against in the past.

In fact, they were even able to force a fumble that wound up in the hands of the defense, thanks to a big hit from Jabrill Peppers.

The lost fumble set Hurts as one shy of his total from last season, and every season before that one. Philadelphia as a whole was limited to 3.9 yards per rushing attempt on average.

To add to that, later in the game, when New England was on its heels, and the Eagles were driving towards enemy territory, and looking to put the game away, rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez nearly intercepted a Jalen Hurts pass on fourth down - stopping them in their tracks and getting the ball back in Jones' hands.

Much like earlier in the game Jones drove down the field, and were it not for a missed toe-tap by Kayshon Boutte, New England would have had a chance to win the game from the 12-yard line or given Chad Ryland a chance to send them to overtime with a chip-shot field goal.

All in all, yes the Patriots lost to the Eagles, but they went toe-to-toe with the defending NFC champion - something that should definitely be taken a note of.

New England is back in action on Sunday, September 17 when they take on the Miami Dolphins in its first divisional matchup of the season on Sunday Night Football - kickoff is scheduled for 8:20 p.m.