FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Jay Heaps succinctly summed up the New England Revolution’s approach this week with the first four words out of his mouth during Wednesday morning’s media availability.

“We’re on to Philly,” he said.

That’s a healthy attitude for a Revolution side looking to put last weekend’s 4-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo in the rearview mirror as quickly as possible. Lessons have been both learned and imparted – “There wasn’t really one area that didn’t need improvement,” Heaps said – and now the focus has shifted firmly to getting back on track this Saturday afternoon against the Philadelphia Union.

A forward-thinking approach is probably most prudent at this early juncture in the 2014 season. Rather than dwell on what went wrong in the first game and the three points dropped, New England is working to figure out how to be better in the next 33 games with 99 points still on the table.

“It’s a long season,” said goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth. “It’s the first game in 34 games. Obviously a difficult start, but we’ve got to build on it. We’ve got 33 more games to go, so we’ve got to remember what we did last season and try to use that and build on that for this season.”

Last year’s success does serve to remind the Revs of what they’re capable of achieving, particularly as they’re careful not to overreact to one negative result. It could be tempting to make wholesale changes following such a comprehensive loss, but Heaps will be thoughtful in the tweaks he makes to the lineup.

“We know that we’re a quality team and we have quality players,” said Chris Tierney. “If we get our mentality right, focus, defend well and play hard, results are going to go our way during the course of the season.

“In the same way that you don’t hang too long on a big win, you don’t hang too long on a bad loss. We’re past it and we’re looking forward to Philly this weekend.”