FOXBORO — Patriots defensive end Akeem Ayers wasn’t sweating it yesterday when discussing his decline in playing time.

Ayers only played five defensive snaps last week against the Jets, which was the fewest among all players who saw the field, because Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich played all 63 snaps. That was a curiously low amount of playing time for a guy who had three sacks and one interception while starting four times in Jones’ six-game absence.

“I have my opportunity to play here and made the best of it while I was playing,” Ayers said. “When Chandler got back, whenever he is in and I’m not in, I’m still preparing the same as I always prepare. When I get in there, I do what I can do. When I’m not, I just try to always be ready so I can take advantage of the time when I do get in there.”

Ayers played 31-of-78 snaps two weeks ago when Jones returned from a hip injury, which was a significant drop from the previous week when he was on the field for 54-of-57 plays.

“You really don’t know going into a game, just on rotation and substitution, what type of game the offense is going to play,” Ayers said. “It’s more of a game-plan type of deal. It depends what the offense does and what type of packages we want to use that game. I’m in on some and not in on some, and it also depends on guys needing rest or not. Just playing it by ear really.”

Ayers was more focused on the bigger picture. He wasn’t getting any playing time earlier in the season for the Titans, who are in contention for the No. 1 pick, while the Patriots have the best record in the NFL.

“I’m still excited to be here,” Ayers said. “Nothing has really changed except he is back and I’m not starting. I approach everything the same way, still handle practices and games the same way. So nothing has really changed.

“I’ve been so locked in here and so bought in to the task each week.”

Gray out

Running back Jonas Gray missed practice yesterday and was ruled out of tomorrow’s game due to the ankle injury that he suffered against the Jets. Gray has received a heavy amount of treatment for the injury this week.

Though Gray was believed to have made some progress after a couple of practices, the Patriots are apparently using extra caution with him, according to a source.

Gray had six carries for 5 yards and a touchdown with the hobbled ankle last week.

Right tackle Sebastian Vollmer (back) and cornerback Alfonzo Dennard (hamstring) also suffered injuries in practice. Dennard was ruled out, and Vollmer is questionable.

Boilermaker pride

Ninkovich knows Bills quarterback Kyle Orton better than anyone in the Patriots’ locker room, as the pair were teammates at Purdue in 2004.

Ninkovich fondly remembered a game against Notre Dame in which he had a pair of sacks and also caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Orton.

“He’s a good quarterback,” Ninkovich said. “We go back a long ways. I caught a couple touchdown passes from him. I’m sure I’ll enjoy getting after him a little bit.”

Ninkovich, who also caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Curtis Painter in 2005, noticed the Bills have altered their offense to fit Orton’s game a bit more since the teams met in Week 6. Orton made his second start of the season against the Pats, so the offense still had some EJ Manuel elements to it at the time.

“We saw him and he was kind of early in his progression when he first got there and he was the starting quarterback,” Ninkovich said. “Now he’s had a bunch of time with those receivers and the timing of everything. The more time a quarterback can spend with his receivers and running backs and tight end especially you can get a feel for what he wants. He’s a good quarterback, and he can make a lot of great throws. They’ve done some good things with him as an offense in there.”