The Titans-Patriots game started with rain and as the sun came out midway through, the day didn't get much clearer for the Titans.

Tennessee fell to New England 40-23 in a day that saw some chances for the Titans to get into the playoffs diminish by their own doing.

Coming into Sunday's game, the Titans needed Cincinatti to lose to Pittsburgh which they did in overtime 23-17, the Titans needed Kansas City to beat Jacksonville which happened 35-30 which would have set up a 3:15 game in which Denver needed to lose to San Fransisco.

In order for those scenarios to take place, the Titans needed to handle their own business in which they were unable to do.

"I'm disappointed that we couldn't finish up on a winning note, but i'm very optimistic about the future of this football team," Titans Head Coach Jeff Fisher said.

Some may have figured the Patriots would rest most of their players considering their playoff seeding is pretty much set unless Indianapolis lost to Miami and the Patriots won. That would move New England from the four seed to the three seed in the conference.

But the game saw Tom Brady play three quarters in which he went 15-of-24 passing for 225 yards and a touchdown. Backup Quarterback Matt Cassell relieved Tom Brady in the fourth, but only threw one pass as his running back duo did the rest for him.

"It's a very good football team, probably one of the best teams that we've played all year," Fisher said. "The quarterback is very talented, their well coached and they have an especially strong defense."

The two running backs in the Patriots backfield in Corey Dillon and Laurence Maroney ran for 130 yards combined on 25 carries with three touchdowns.

Tennessee's defense allowed New England to net 414 yards and had trouble stopping the Patriots on offense all day. The Patriots averaged 6.8 yards per play.

The Titans offense struggled to put the ball in the endzone. They were set up numerous times by Pacman Jones return game. Jones returned one punt 81 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter to make the score 19-10. Jones had 260 return yards on special teams.

Before Jones return, New England rattled off 19 straight points after Tennsessee scored a field goal on their opening drive.

The Patriots defense stifled Vince Young all day as he turned the ball over three times and sacked him five times. Young had only 2 rushes for 29 yards in which one included a 28 yd td run in the third quarter to get the Titans within three points 26-23.

"The footing on the field was bad, he was pressured, they didn't do anything unusual," Fisher said. "They were very sound, we had a number of drops, i don't think it was an extraordinary scheme, we had some opportunities, we just didn't take advantage of them."

The Titans PA announcer near the end of the third quarter announced the good news of the other two results the Titans needed, but proved no avail as Tom Brady connected with Reche Caldwell on a 62 yard td pass on the next play the announcer informed fans of the good news.

The Titans could not produce in the fourth quarter and saw Vinny Testaverde throw a touchdown pass late in the game to seal the deal for the Pats to finalize the score at 40-23.

Game Notes

Travis Henry went over the 100 yard marker for the sixth time this season as he had 21 carries for 102 yards. Henry had 12 carries for 98 yards in the first half.

Drew Bennett was the leading receiver with 4 receptions for 75 yards. Bennett did not catch a pass in the previous two games.

Rob Bironas went 3-of-4 on field goals and missed from 22 yards out. The miss marks his first career miss between 20-29 yards.

Lamont Thompson was the Titans leading tackler with 10 tackles.