NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Malcolm Butler isn't happy with how he's played so far with the Tennessee Titans.
To change what happens from here, the veteran cornerback went back and looked at his past – more specifically, his rookie film from 2014, with the New England Patriots.
"Just to see where you started out, how hungry I was back then," Butler said on Wednesday. "That fire has to get back in me, and it is back in me now. It's lit, man. I'm ready to go out there and practice right now, and play on Sunday.
"I am pissed (with how things have gone so far), but nobody can change that but me – no coach, no player, no teammates, no scheme, no nothing. I have to change that, and that is what I am going to do. That is what they got me here for."
Butler, signed this offseason by the Titans after playing his first four NFL seasons with the Patriots, has been victimized by the deep ball in several games this season. He struggled in coverage in Sunday's loss to the Ravens.
Butler, who entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Patriots, thinks he's been trying to do too much, and his technique and fundamentals have slipped as a result.
"I think sometimes my problem is trying to get the ball, you gamble and do things you shouldn't. I just need to get back to the basics," he said. "I need to get back to my doggish ways.
"I'm going to get back to being real nasty, man. I'm going to play my game and do more to help my team out. I am just going to be me."
Butler had a great training camp for the Titans, intercepting a half-dozen passes in practices before being sidelined a stretch in the preseason with an injury.
In the team's season opener at Miami, he had an interception in the end zone.
He's battled inconsistencies since. On the season Butler has 25 tackles, a sack, an interception and five passes defensed.
"I have to get over the big plays, the post routes," he said. "It's a grind, man. You have to be man enough to attack the task. … Anything in the past, I have to put it behind me. I have to perform, man. I have to make plays, and do what I do. That is what I am trying to get back to."
On Sunday, the Titans face the Charger in London.
Butler said it's a business trip.
"I have no room for any vacation -- I need to go over there and play ball," he said. "AIE – Attitude Is Everything. I want to make some plays for my teammates, and I appreciate them holding me down when things are not going my way. I need to be more consistent, and get back what got me here. I just have to get back to being me, and I plan on doing that."
