–One of the players who has come under recent scrutiny for his lacking performance has been cornerback Malcolm Butler, who signed a five-year, $61 million deal in the offseason, but has been burned repeatedly in recent weeks.
Butler, who has just one interception this season – it came in the season opener at Miami – said he has been guilty of being too aggressive and not sticking to the correct technique in his desperation to make a play on the ball.
“Most definitely, I agree with that. I seen it on tape and I’ve just got to fix it, man. I probably was just being a little over-aggressive and trying to attack the ball and trying to take the ball away,” Butler said. “I feel like I’m a ball-hawk, but that’s not the strategy in man coverage. I learned from that one.”
Butler said he may have to curtail his gambling style in order to play better within the scheme.
“I think that’s my problem, trying to get the ball, because it’s all about the ball anyway. But it can hurt you too, when you gamble and do things like that. I’ve just got to get back to the basics, and ball. Get back to my dog-ish ways,” Butler said.
–The trip to London is a first for many Titans players, and some of them are excited about the trip.
“I’m very excited. It’s going to be different for sure, but I have some family going that have never been as well, so it will be a really cool experience,” quarterback Marcus Mariota said.
While the focus will be on winning the game, Mariota adds that if time allows, he wouldn’t mind doing a little sightseeing.
“To be honest, I’m trying to focus and try to treat this as a business trip. It’s just kind of one of those things that happens not very often,” he said. “We’ll have to see. Part of it too is, I have family going. If they want to go check out some of the sights, I would like to join them.”
Titans players will have to adjust to the time change, as London is five hours ahead of Nashville. The Titans were scheduled to leave Thursday after practice, and then fly overnight, landing in London early Friday morning, with as normal a day as possible scheduled.
“I’m kind of excited to see how this whole thing transpires. It’s different, but there’s nothing we can do about it. We just have to kind of enjoy the whole process. I definitely always wanted to go to London, and this is my opportunity to take advantage of it,” said linebacker Brian Orakpo.
BY THE NUMBERS: 71 – The percentage of third-down conversions the Titans allowed the Ravens to convert last Sunday, as Baltimore was 12 of 17 on third down and was 10 of 11 at one point in the game.