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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The record says all is lost, but Damione Lewis sees enough in his Panthers to think brighter days are ahead.

OK, so perhaps those brighter days will be next season.

"I think we still have a solid ballclub," the defensive tackle said after yesterday's 20-10 loss to the Patriots dropped Carolina to 5-8, with three games left.

"We fought, we played hard, we play well together, we have a great chemistry, and I think we can turn it around -- it just may not happen for us this year."

Asked if he hopes coach John Fox will be part of that Lewis said, "Yeah, I think we have a great chemistry of guys here and I think Coach Fox and (GM) Marty Hurney have done a great job of getting a good core of guys together. Hopefully, everything stays the same."

Sunday, playing a Patriots team that had lost two straight, the Panthers had the home crowd booing in the first half. Carolina led a first-half war of punts 7-0 on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Matt Moore to Steve Smith late in the first.

But the Patriots, with the rain falling, then started doing what they wanted to do offensively and the Panthers did little to stop them, ruining Carolina's first regular season visit to New England.

The Pats (8-5) tied the game late in the first half, a 30-yard interference call against James Anderson the key play in a 57-yard drive that followed a strange set of calls that left the Panthers trying a 53-yard John Casey field goal (on a fourth-and-three from the 35) that fell short. As it turned out, the touchdown drive was the first of four straight possessions that kept New England in control of a game it won despite three turnovers, two in the first half.

The Patriots received the opening kickoff in the second half and roared from their own 11 down the field. Sammy Morris fumbled the ball away at the Carolina 14 (New England's third turnover of the game) and DeAngelo Williams put his team in business with a 26-yard run on the first play.

The Panthers then suffered an attack of the illegal shift and wound up punting. Dante Wesley tight-roped the goal line and kept the ball out of the end zone, the Pats taking over at the 4. That's when Tom Brady and Wes Welker went to work.

Brady took his team 96 yards, going 6-for-6 passing for 69 of those yards, Welker catching five for 64 and Ben Watson the last 5 for the touchdown. A great catch by Dante Rosario led to a 36-yard Kasay field goal but Brady just kept hitting Welker (10 catches, 105 yards, several jarring hits absorbed) and Stephen Gostkowski put the game away with a pair of long field goals.

"Tom Brady's a great quarterback," said Julius Peppers. "He's going to find (Welker)."

Brady, 5-for-9 for 33 yards and an interception in the first half, was 14-for-23 for 159 yards in the second.

Moore was 15-for-30 for 197 yards and the Smith touchdown. Williams finished with 82 yards as the Panthers ran for 126. "I thought we ran the ball decent," said Fox.

But, as they have been doing in what has turned into this lost season, they also failed to make the big plays against a team that was starting to doubt itself. The Panthers were guilty of 92 yards of penalties, including what looked like a shaky roughing the kicker call against Everette Brown late in the game.

"Forget the record at this point," said Peppers. "We're trying to get wins, but we can't control that right now. It's not where we wanted to be, so next week we'll just try to get another one."

"Next week" is against 11-2 Minnesota and Brett Favre in Charlotte.

The Panthers won one battle, holding Randy Moss to one catch for 16 yards.

Panthers cornerback Chris Gamble told The Boston Globe that they knew Moss would "shut it down."

"He'd just give up a lot; slow down; he's not going deep; not trying to run a route. You can tell (by) his body language," the paper quoted him as saying. "I know everyone who plays against him, they can sense that. Once you get into him in the beginning of the game, he shuts it down a little bit."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Carolina 7 0 0 3 — 10
New England 0 7 7 6 — 20

Car—S.Smith 41 pass from M.Moore (Kasay kick).
NE—Faulk 3 run (Gostkowski kick).
NE—Watson 5 pass from Brady (Gostkowski kick).
Car—FG Kasay 36.
NE—FG Gostkowski 48.
NE—FG Gostkowski 47.
A—68,756.

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs — Car 14, NE 26
Total Net Yards — Car 305, NE 377
Rushes-yards — Car 24-126, NE 40-185
Passing — Car 179, NE 192
Punt Returns — Car 0-0, NE 5-47
Kickoff Returns — Car 5-96, NE 3-51
Interceptions Ret. — Car 1-0, NE 0-0
Comp-Att-Int — Car 15-30-0, NE 19-32-1
Sacked-Yards Lost — Car 2-18, NE 0-0
Punts — Car 7-39.7, NE 3-28.3
Fumbles-Lost — Car 0-0, NE 2-2
Penalties-Yards — Car 9-92, NE 4-25
Time of Possession — Car 25:45, NE 34:15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
Carolina — D.Williams 13-82, Stewart 7-29, S.Smith 2-7, Sutton 1-6, Hoover 1-2.
New England — Maroney 22-94, Faulk 10-58, Morris 6-35, Brady 2-(minus 2).

PASSING
Carolina — M.Moore 15-30-0-197.
New England — Brady 19-32-1-192.

RECEIVING
Carolina — Muhammad 3-29, Rosario 3-26, S.Smith 2-83, Sutton 2-21, King 2-16, D.Williams 2-15, Barnidge 1-7.
New England — Welker 10-105, Watson 3-37, Faulk 3-17, Maroney 2-17, Moss 1-16.

MISSED FIELD GOALS
Carolina — Kasay 53.