FRISCO, Texas — For all of the rightful talk regarding the upcoming homecoming game for Micah Parsons against the Dallas Cowboys in primetime, there's also a lesser-discussed storyline with just as much oomph — namely the fact the Green Bay Packers must try and stop Kenny Clark for the first time in his NFL career.
When the three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle takes the field for Sunday Night Football, he'll square off against a team he shared a locker room with for nearly a decade, but don't count on him letting his emotions disturb his focus.
And especially with the Cowboys trying to avoid a 1-3 start to the season.
"When you've been somewhere for nine years, it's hard to not have those emotions, but it's another game," Clark said. "It's another game ,at the end of the day. I'm definitely going to be amped up. I'm gonna be ready to go, and prepare to do everything I gotta do in order to help my team win but, at the end of the day, yeah, we're trying to get a win."
To do so, he'll have to take down a quarterback he knows very well from having practiced against him for three of his nine seasons in Green Bay: Jordan Love.
Love eviscerated the Cowboys' defense in his previous visit to AT&T Stadium to dismiss the Cowboys from the playoffs in the pre-Clark era, considering Clark was a part of that dismantling for Green Bay, and Love won't be an easy one to bottle up and take down, as Clark readily admitted to Dallas media.
That said, for the first time ever, he also won't have to concern himself with Love donning the red jersey.
"Yeah, you get to hit now," Clark said when picturing putting a hit on his former QB, and wearing a massive smile during his answer. "I'm excited, bro. I'm excited. It's been a long time coming and it's definitely something I've been thinking about since I got traded here. I'm excited to go."
There will eternally be talk of players and coaches lining up against their former teams, justifiably so, but it's a two-sided coin, all things considered.
Clark understands that completely.
"I know them in and out, and they know me," he said. " I've been going against those guys for a long time and I know how they like to block, and all that kind of stuff — as far as scheme and all that kind of stuff. That's a little tougher. But as far as just me versus a guy, knowing how they're gonna block me?
"They know what I'm gonna do, I know what they're gonna do."
And so it goes that while Parsons is trying his best to make a point against the Cowboys on Sunday, Clark will be more keyed in on making sure he does his job to the best of his ability and not to prove a point to Green Bay, but to get the Cowboys back to a .500 record before the calendar flips to October and the second quarter of the 2025 season.
It's a win they must have, and a message they need to send, and that's where Clark's focus lies.
"Of course it's emotion [involved], and I'm gonna have a lot of family here and all that kind of stuff but, at the end of the day, I'm trying to help the Cowboys get a win."
And with all every football camera in the world trained on him, the Cowboys and the Packers, no less.
Say cheese.
