Green Bay Packers interior defensive lineman Kenny Clark has been quite disruptive the last two games, and not surprisingly, so has the rest of the defensive front.
Against the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions, Clark totaled 14 pressures, which is the second-most among all interior defensive linemen over that two-week stretch. His pass rush win rate of 25 percent is the highest among his position group as well.
In addition to Clark putting together some of his best performances of the season, so has the Packers pass rush as a whole. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The Packers’ 33 team pressures against Detroit were their second-highest mark of the season.
The week prior, Green Bay’s 21 pressures, according to PFF, versus the Chargers was the fourth-most and the most they had in a game since Week 2, and that performance included a batted pass on fourth-down to end the game. In fact, in the Packers’ four highest-pressure games this season, Clark has led the team in that category on three occasions.
“Kenny Clark is one of our leaders,” said Matt LaFleur after the Chargers game. “No question about it. Another guy that continues to battle. He certainly leads that defensive line room. He’s a big leader not only on the defense but for this football team. Not always the most outspoken, but he certainly does it with his play and his actions and how he prepares on a weekly basis. We are fortunate to have a guy like that in our locker room.”
Compared to previous years, Clark is seeing more snaps away from the A-gap and the interior as a whole, with TJ Slaton taking on a larger role, which in theory, should provide more one-on-one opportunities. After totaling anywhere from 134 to 160 snaps in the A-gap between 2020 and 2022, Clark has just 30 snaps lined up there about two-thirds of the way through the season. He also has 66 snaps outside the tackle, with his previous season-high being just 10, and he’s on pace for a career-high in snaps lined up over the tackle, according to PFF.
We’ve all seen on countless occasions throughout Clark’s career that he has the ability to completely wreck a play on his own. But as the pressure numbers help illustrate, when Clark is at his best, oftentimes so are the other interior defenders and edge rushers around him. Whether it be the penetration that Clark generates or the attention he draws from offensive linemen, Clark’s presence helps create opportunities for others to get after the quarterback.
To a degree, as Clark goes, the rest of the Packers’ pass rush goes with him. The name of the game is getting after the quarterback, which not only creates sack opportunities but also provides help for what has been a short-handed Green Bay secondary by getting the quarterback off his spot, disrupting the timing and rhythm, and providing less time in coverage for the defensive backs.
Rashan Gary has had some standout performances, as had Clark, but collectively as a group, the Packers’ pass rush has often been inconsistent this season. However, in the last two weeks against two high-powered offenses, led by Clark, Green Bay has had two of its better pass rush performances, and they kept both the Los Angeles and Detroit offenses in check.