Revenge game? Packers' Micah Parsons isn't the only player looking to show out against former team

FRISCO, Texas -- Week 4 of the 2025 NFL season for the Dallas Cowboys is more than just another game against the Green Bay Packers on "Sunday Night Football." 

The return of All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons to AT&T Stadium Sunday night after owner/general manager Jerry Jones traded him away to Green Bay a week before the regular season began overshadows everything else about the matchup. That's whether the rest of the Dallas organization likes it or not. CBS Sports asked Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer about if he reflects on the Parsons trade in light of Dallas' defensive struggles: the Cowboys' 30.7 points per game allowed is their fourth-most points per game allowed through the first three games of a season in franchise history. 

Midway through the question, Schottenheimer interjected some sarcasm. 

"Who is coming to town this week?" Schottenheimer asked with a smirk.

"Micah Parsons," CBS Sports replied.

"He plays for Green Bay?" Schottenheimer asked, smiling. 

"He does," CBS Sports replied. 

"It's a big game because it's the next game, the media, and the fans want to build it up because of Micah coming back," Schottenheimer said on Wednesday. "I understand that, I mean, I'm not naive enough to think that people don't want to talk about that."   

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One of the "forgotten" people in Micah Parsons making his return to Dallas this week is the player the Cowboys received back from the Packers in the trade along with two first-round picks: three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark. 

"That's up to whoever. That's on everybody else," Clark said when asked if he's the forgotten man this week. "Like I said, I'm here to win. I'm going to play my ass off and do everything I can for us to get a win."

Following the departure of future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets in 2023, Clark became Green Bay's longest tenured player. The Packers selected him 27th overall in the 2016 NFL Draft at the age of 20, and Clark was all set to enter his 10th season in Green Bay prior to being thrown into the compensation package for Parsons a week before the season. He can still remember exactly where he was in his house prior to the events that day. 

Clark claimed this week isn't personal, but he vividly recalled fist bumping with Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst during a morning training camp practice before finding out he was getting traded to Dallas while hanging out in his basement later that afternoon. He'll have a suite full of family and friends for support at AT&T Stadium on Sunday night. 

"I was in my basement. I had just gotten done going to get my daughter some ice scream, and I was in the basement just chilling. I just had a live practice. It's crazy," Clark said. "I just fist bumped with Gutey [Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst] walking on the sideline and all the scouts and all that. Then, I got the call: 'Yo, yeah, we traded you.'"

Clark then became frozen in shock despite August being one of the most pleasant months of the year in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  

"I was shocked, man. That's probably the most shocked I've ever been in my life. Of course I heard the rumors that the Packers were going to trade for Micah (Parsons) and all that stuff, but I never thought it was gonna be me that was going to be traded," Clark said. "It is what it is."

NFL football players are taught to avoid distractions at all costs, which led to Clark giving many scripted responses about how this week is just another game. However, he's human. That's why it was apparent at times during his session with local media on Wednesday after practice that facing the Packers means more to him than just needing to get a win to avoid a 1-3 start to the season. 

"Of course when you've been somewhere for nine years, and it's hard to not have those emotions. It's another game," Clark said. "It's another game I think. I'm definitely going to be amped up, be ready to go and prepare to do everything I got to do in order to help my team win. ...Call it what it is. It is a real connection, but at the end of the day, we're trying to get to 1-0 [for the week]. It's not about me. It's about the Cowboys getting the win, and I'm going to do everything in my power for us to do that."

Clark hasn't even gone radio silent with his former Packers teammates: he spoke on the phone with Green Bay 2023 fourth-round pick defensive lineman Colby Wooden on the phone earlier this week. 

"I had one with my boy Colby. I called him the other day," Clark said. "Other than that, nah man. I don't really talk too much before the game. The guys over there know that. I'm locked in, and they're locked in. So we'll see each other Sunday."

However, he isn't going to seek out hugs before the game like some players on new teams do upon facing their former teammates and coaches. 

"When it's gametime, I'm in the game. If those guys want to come up, I ain't seeking it out. It's all love and they know it's all love. After the game or before the game, we can do that, but I am not seeking out for anything," Clark said. "I'm trying to win the game. ... I'm here to win. I'm gonna play my ass off and do everything I can for us to get a win."     

He's most looking forward to playing his former quarterback in Jordan Love. He didn't practice against the first team offense frequently over the years, but now he's eager to have a chance to sack him for the first time. 

"All of them. Jordan [Love]. All those guys," Clark said when asked about who he's looking forward to seeing. "Seeing them in live action and playing them live, it's going to be cool to play against them. We didn't have a lot of practices and all that kind of stuff together. But yeah, I never really went live action [against them], so it's going to be cool to go for it. ... It's been a long time coming. It's [facing and getting after Love] definitely been something I've been thinking about since I got traded here. I'm excited to go."

Facing the Packers will truly test Clark's skill and physicality because there will be a schematic and scouting stalemate between himself and Green Bay's offensive line. 

"Yeah, it's a lot you can take out of that. I know them, and they know me," Clark said. "I've been going against those guys for a long time, I know how they like the 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 the guy knowing how they're going to block me. Knowing the sets. They know what I'm gonna do. I know what they're going to do."  

That being said, he's happy to answer any questions Schottenheimer and his staff have about the Packers.

"Any little nuggets they need, of course I'm here. It hasn't been too much," Clark said. "Anything they want to know, I'm going to give them to the best of my knowledge."

 "He pretty much knows the defense in and out," Cowboys running back Javonte Williams said of Clark. "He was over there for a long time, so any way that he can help me, I'm going to talk to him throughout the week. 

Despite the overall slow start from the Cowboys defense, Dallas' run defense has improved since acquiring Clark, which Jones emphasized as a critical reason for trading Parsons. They're allowing nearly 20 yards fewer on the ground on average -- 109.7 rushing yards per game allowed in 2025 (17th in the NFL) versus 137.1 rushing yards per game allowed in 2024 (29th in the NFL). Clark also leads Dallas with nine quarterback pressures and is one of just three Cowboys with a sack this season along with James Houston and Marshawn Kneeland. 

"Fitting in great," Clark said. "Everybody has been welcoming and all that kind of stuff. Just trying to talk more to the guys. Build my leadership role on this team and just communicate and try to help our defense as best I can. It's been great since I've been here."

However, the Cowboys know the effort from the rest of the pass rush needs to improve in order to make a postseason push. Dallas' 29.9% quarterback pressure this season is the seventh-worst in the NFL through weeks and a far cry from the team's 40.2% quarterback pressure rate with Parsons from 2021 to 2024, a figure that ranked as the best in the NFL in the previous four seasons. 

"Kenny Clark, I can't tell you how lucky we are to have him," Schottenheimer said on Monday. "Again, it's not been good enough as a team, and that's what we are. We're a football team."

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur certainly isn't surprised that Clark has quickly become Dallas' most impactful defensive lineman against the run and the pass early on in 2025. 

"He looks really good, like I would expect, like when he was here," LaFleur said, via the team's website, on Wednesday. "He's going to be a handful."  

Will facing LaFleur, Love and the Packers allow Clark to gain some emotional closure of sorts? He maintains it's not that deep, but the Pro Bowler might feel differently when the clock hits zero on "Sunday Night Football."

"Nah, like I said, it isn't that serious. I'm here to help the Cowboys get a win. It's football," Clark said. "At the end of the day, I'm not going to make it bigger than it is. I'm definitely excited. I'm definitely ready to go. I'm going to prepare my ass off to get a win and to kick ass on Sunday. But as far as all the other stuff, I don't care about it."