FOXBOROUGH – Weather aside, Sunday’s season opener and celebration of Tom Brady was a perfect day…except for the result.

It felt like the old days with the stadium rocking and dozens upon dozens of media outlets and former Patriots players on hand.

Trailing by five in the final two minutes, the Patriots had a chance to steal a wild comeback victory from the defending NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles, but couldn’t convert a fourth down deep in Philly territory and ultimately fell, 25-20.

Trailing by the same score with 3:37 left, Jabrill Peppers had a big hit on Eagles’ QB Jalen Hurts to force a fumble that was recovered by Marcus Jones at the Philly 41. A seven-yard sack on second down forced a 3rd-&-12 that then became a 3rd-&-17 with a delay of game call. New England turned it over on downs, but the defense came up with its own turnover on downs wit 1:57 to go, giving the offense another chance at the New England 44.

Moments later facing another fourth down, Mac (35/54, 316, 3 TD, 1 INT) hit Kayshon Boutee on the sideline near the 10, but he couldn’t get both feet in, turning it over on downs again. Hurts took one more kneel down to ice it.

All things considered, the fight the Patriots showed after falling into an almost immediate 16-0 hole was impressive and should give fans hope moving forward. The defense did its job routinely, while the offense showed flashes after a whole lot of ugliness in the first half.

“Obviously a disappointing finish here today. We had our chances today. Got off to a slow start. Made it competitive, but just couldn’t make enough plays here, or the ones we needed to make,” said Bill Belichick. “So go back to work here, try to correct some of the things that we obviously need to do better and just move on from there.”

Moments after Gillette Stadium erupted as Tom Brady rang the new bell as the first “Keeper of the Lighthouse,” the Pats won the toss and deferred, but Philly opened the game with a 14-play, 61-yard drive that included a 3rd-&-11 conversion by Jalen Hurts, Matt Judon came up with a sack on 3rd-&-goal, forcing Philly into a 32-yard field goal.

The Patriots quickly moved across midfield and into Philadelphia territory on their first drive of the season – which included an 11-yard run for Ezekiel Elliott on his first Patriots’ touch – but a Jones pass on third down intended for Kendrick Bourne was high, tipped, and then picked off and ran back for a 70-yard TD by Darius Slay to put the Pats in an early 10-0 hole.

The nightmare start continued as Zeke fumbled the first snap after the kick off and Philadelphia recovered at the New England 26. A defensive holding call soon gave Philly a 1st-&-goal from the five and Hurts hit DeVonta Smith on a sprint out to the right for a TD. The PAT was no good, but it was still worst case scenario with New England down 16-0 less than a quarter into the season.

The struggles continued as Ty Montgomery had a huge return on the kick off out to the New England 44, but the offense almost immediately went three-and-out as boos already started to rain down with a smattering of “Zappe” chants. Bryce Baringer pinned Philly deep on the punt and a Myles Bryant stick in the open field forced a punt to end the first.

Marcus Jones had a nice return to the Philly 48 to open the second but yet again, a three-and-out ensued as the boos got louder and louder. Another great Baringer punt to the Philly eight and another forced three-and-out by the defense ensued as that unit kept the game close as best it could. Unfortunately, the offensive ineptitude continued with another three-and-out, this time thanks to a low throw from Mac and drop by JuJu Smith-Schuster.

After the defense forced another punt, the offense finally woke up in the final five minutes of the half to cut it to 16-7. Bill O’Brien got into a nice rhythm play calling, getting the ball out of Mac’s hands quick. Big third down catches by Mike Gesicki and Smith-Schuster eventually led to a nine-yard Hunter Henry TD with 4:34 to go in the second. Penalties and drops hurt Philly on its next drive and the offense was back out at its own 37 with 2:33 left.

Bill O’Brien had his best drive yet, getting Mac into a rhythm over the next 2:08. Hunter Henry had a few big catches over the middle and pass protection held up until Jones hit Kendrick Bourne (6/64/2 TD) for a 19-yard TD to make it 16-14 heading into halftime and the Brady ceremony.

Brady’s halftime ceremony lasted 10-minutes. Dozens of Brady’s former teammates stood on the field and the Greatest Of All Time ran out and did his famous “let’s go” fist pump. Before he gave a speech where he proclaimed “I’m a Patriot for life!,” RKK announced that a Larry Bird Night-like Patriots Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place inside Gillette Stadium next summer on June 12th. Before the second half began, Brady hugged seemingly every single teammate that was on the field for him.

With the stadium still buzzing, the Pats started the third quarter with another three-and-out. Philly crossed midfield, but stalled and attempted a 56-yard field goal. The drive lasted 4:55, but was just 33 yards in 10 plays as the defense continued to do its job.

New England moved down to the Philly 27 on the next drive with a nice balance, but two holding calls on Henry and Antonio Mafi killed them, backed them out of field goal range and forced a punt with just 2:43 left in the third. Philly put together an 11-play drive, but the defense again held strong, forcing another field goal. This time, it was from 48-yards and doink’d the upright before going through, putting the Eagles up 22-14 with 13:21 to play.

The Pats got some help on the next drive, getting a roughing the passer call to move over midfield. Facing 4th-&-8 at the Philadelphia 36, Henry made a ridiculous one-handed catch to bail out Mac and extend the drive, Unfortunately, moments later on 4th-&-3 at the 17, Philly got a stop and turnover on downs with 9:32 on the clock. You could make the argument that New England could have taken the points to make it a five-point game, but instead put more pressure on the defense.

“I felt like it was the best decision for the team,” said Belichick.

One play later, Hurts hit AJ Brown with a ridiculous throw down to the Pats’ 35. The play was reviewed and ultimately reversed. It didn’t matter though, as Hurts and Brown connected on back-to-back plays to move down to the New England 45.  Eventually, another Elliott field goal – this time from 51-yards – made it 25-14 with just 5:33 remaining.

Impressively, Mac led the team 75-yards in just six plays and 1:56 – aided by a 32-yard catch and run by Rhamondre Stevenson – and capped the drive with an 11-yard TD to Bourne. Mac scrambled for the two-point attempt but a hold on Calvin Anderson negated it and the conversion failed on the next snap, leaving the score at 25-20 and 3:37 left in the game. Peppers’ big play followed, setting up the frantic final few minutes.

“Again, I think overall we played competitively. We had some good plays, and then we had a couple of plays that, you know, could have been better obviously. A couple of holding penalties. We had some key penalties and obviously the turnovers, so just need to do a better job,” added Belichick.