The Cowboys raised some eyebrows by putting up a good fight against the Eagles in the first game of the NFL season but ultimately fell short in a 24–20 loss. Every win matters when you're trying to make the playoffs but there are some genuine signs for optimism for Dallas even if they fell short of pulling off the upset.

Colin Cowherd dove into some of them during his show Friday.

"I watched that game last night for Dallas and maybe it's because I had such low expectations but I thought that was about as an encouraging a loss," Cowherd said. "Philadelphia boat-raced the Cowboys twice last year and Dallas had that game."

"They had more first downs," Cowherd said. "They were slightly better on third down. They had fewer penalties. They had more total offense and I thought their clock management—always an issue in Dallas with [Mike] McCarthy—was very strong at the end of the first half."

The FS1 host gave Dak Prescott high marks for his play coming off a major injury and praised their offensive line for holding up. He then threw in a great what-if:

"It would've been a win if CeeDee Lamb didn't become CeeDee 'Lame' and drop three passes."

Now, it's a long season and the Cowboys are in need of some good vibes after the whole Micah Parsons drama. There are certainly worse ways to be 0–1 but the standings don't account for close losses.

Dallas looked very much like they deserved to share the field with the defending Super Bowl champions, which is a thing a lot of experts weren't expecting.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Colin Cowherd Explains Why the Cowboys Should Be Encouraged Despite Losing.