With last week's frustrating defeat behind them, the Green Bay Packers' attention has now shifted to Week 4, where they will travel to AT&T Stadium to face the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. There has been plenty of attention given to Micah Parsons' homecoming after Jerry Jones' shocking decision to trade him less than two weeks ahead of the season.
Far less focus has been put on Kenny Clark's first game against Green Bay, where he spent the first nine seasons of his career after being selected in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Clark has already spoken about the matchup this week. Now, Packers center Elgton Jenkins has shared his thoughts on facing his former teammate for the first time after going against each other for years during practice.
Elgton Jenkins opens up about facing former Packers teammate Kenny Clark
Clark was a key piece of Green Bay's defense for the majority of his nine-year tenure with the franchise. He started 126 of his 140 games played, including each of his appearances for the past eight seasons. The three-time Pro Bowler recorded 417 total tackles, 51 tackles for loss, 35.0 sacks, and 76 quarterback hits.
While he had been the longest-tenured Packer, it was a no-brainer to move on when the return was the 26-year-old Parsons. Jenkins opened up about facing his long-time teammate in an interview with Wes Hodkiewicz of the Packers' official website.
"This whole camp, we had so many conversations on the things that I see that he could get better at and things that I could get better at that he told me," said Jenkins. "It's going to be interesting, honestly. This is probably my first time playing against somebody that I practiced with six, seven years, and now I'm playing him."
Jenkins has struggled in his first season playing center at the professional level, as his 58.5 PFF grade ranks 32nd out of 46 centers. His 51.5 pass-blocking grade and his 59.3 run-blocking grade both rank 30th at the position.
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He noted that he has no interest in Clark's Cowboys jersey, but instead hopes his former teammate has a Packers jersey for him. The seventh-year offensive lineman then praised the defensive tackle's work ethic.
"He always brings his hard hat to work and he's a guy that's been doing that consistently for the last nine years he's been in the league. So we've just got to get ready for it and he's probably going to have his piss hot playing us but it's going to be a good battle though at the end of the day."
While the Cowboys' defense has struggled without Parsons, Clark has been a bright spot. He has posted a 73.7 PFF grade, recording 10 total tackles, one tackle for loss, 1.0 sacks, and one quarterback hit.
Jenkins will have to be at his best against his former teammate.