Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett loses his grip on the ball as he is brought down near the end zone by Patriots safety James Sanders in the second quarter of last night’s exhibition game at Gillette Stadium, in Foxboro.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

FOXBORO — Let’s get it out of the way right from the top: Tom Brady didn’t play last night in the Patriots’ preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

But that shouldn’t really be a cause for concern. Brady and his sore right foot did take part in practice Wednesday, and the Patriots have a history of being extra cautious with certain players during the preseason (see: Moss, Randy and Maroney, Laurence in 2007).

Add to that the fact that the Eagles were one of the teams that put a hurting on Brady during their visit to Foxboro last November, and it’s easy to see why New England wouldn’t risk his health.

And while, yes, the game is essentially meaningless, there are a few things that should cause concern.

Namely, the offensive line, the special-teams units and the defensive tackling.

Thanks to two fourth-quarter touchdowns, the Patriots were able to post a respectable score against the Eagles, losing 27-17.

With Matt Light and top reserves Billy Yates, Russ Hochstein and Ryan O’Callaghan all nursing injuries right now, the patchwork offensive line last night saw Dan Connolly start at right guard. He played alongside Wesley Britt, Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen and Nick Kaczur, and was replaced by John Welbourn in the first half.

The offense rushed 20 times for just 65 yards — and that included a 22-yard scramble by Matt Cassel, which is by far the longest running play of the preseason for the Pats.

Cassel, whose difficulties this preseason have been well documented, didn’t look much better last night. Playing into the third quarter, he finished the game 8-for-14 for 60 yards and was sacked three times.

Once again he failed to move the ball, and once again he failed to put anything more than a field goal’s worth of points on the board even though he had the Pats’ first-team offense, including Randy Moss, Jabar Gaffney and Laurence Maroney at his disposal.

Matt Gutierrez, who took over for Cassel, led New England to its first touchdown of the game during his first drive under center and a second later in the fourth quarter.

Gutierrez’s first pass was a 24-yard completion to C.J. Jones, who made an athletic catch on the right sideline. The 11-play drive ended with a one-yard pass to Chad Jackson in the corner of the end zone.

Almost always the first player on the practice field and the last player off it, Gutierrez acknowledged that the offense did some good things when he was at QB, but there’s room for improvement.

“It felt good to string some plays together, but the drives still weren’t perfect,” he said. “(But) we were down, we kept competing and that means something.”

When it was pointed out to him that he was handed the ball with the Patriots down by three touchdowns, Gutierrez points to the drive that ended with his being sacked on fourth down.

“That would have been the third (touchdown). When you come up short, you come up short,” he said.

On special teams, New England came into the night allowing opponents over 17 yards per punt return and that number will only rise after rookie DeSean Jackson’s 76-yard return for a touchdown in the second quarter.

“It was a beautiful punt return,” Jackson said. “I felt the punter got a good kick on it and kind of out-kicked his coverage and I just did a great job of catching the ball and making two moves to the side and hitting the seam. From there, it was nothing but daylight.”

Jackson’s touchdown followed a 101-yard kickoff return touchdown by Quintin Demps. Stephen Gostkowski put a pretty good hit on Demps, but he ran right through the kicker and gingerly placed the ball near the pylon after crossing the goal line.

Heath Evans took complete blame for Demps’ score.

“That kickoff return was my fault,” said Evans, who could be seen getting an earful from special-teams coach Brad Seely when he came back to the sideline. “If I hit my gap, that play never happens. We probably had 10 guys that did a great job, and me, bozo, missed my gap, and that cost us a big return.”

Defensively, New England seemed to have trouble wrapping up players for stops, leading to longer gains for the Eagles.

Workhorse back Brian Westbrook had 39 yards on nine carries (4.3 yards per carry), and despite not having top wideouts Kevin Curtis (sports hernia surgery) and Reggie Brown, Donovan McNabb was 13-for-17 for 180 yards and a touchdown.

Ellis Hobbs believes little things are making a big difference for the Patriots. “It’s not that these guys are overpowering us,” he said. “With a team like us, the key is details. If we don’t take care of the little things, they end up looking like big things.”

smanza@projo.com