Green Bay Packers: 3 Matchups to Watch in Week 16

Kenny Clark vs. Ben Jones

Kenny Clark simply has to be a factor in the Packers’ run defense this week, and a big one. He’s easily their best man in the trenches at taking on double teams and making the game a lot easier for his linebackers behind him. As a pass rusher, he’s been a little down this season with just two sacks, but this game will be a heavy focus on stopping the run. Of course, the Titans are capable of throwing with two big weapons in Corey Davis and A.J. Brown, but Green Bay’s secondary has looked great lately, so it’s lower on the list of concerns this week.

If you look up the word consistency in the dictionary, there’s a picture of Titans’ center Ben Jones next to it. Over the past seven seasons, he’s started 109 games and missed just one. Even more consistent than just being in the lineup, his level of play has been roughly the same every season. His Football Reference Approximate Value has been a seven every single one of the last six seasons. For reference, Corey Linsley has a career average Approximate Value of 6.7.

This gritty matchup will anchor the Titans’ entire offensive game, and whoever wins and controls the line of scrimmage will have a huge upper hand. It’s a true battle of two of the best in the business. Jones leads all centers in Sports Infor Solutions’ Points Earned stat with 29, and you already know what Clark can do on the interior as a Pro Bowler last season.

The real heavyweight fights like this in football are often overlooked because they’re hard to quantify, and the skill players are much more glamorous, but it’s where the battle starts. If Henry can’t get going north and south and get a head of steam up, he can’t do what he loves to do and throw defenders around like ragdolls. They have to defend him much like they did with Adrian Peterson in his prime and make sure that he’s stopped before he can get into a position where he can do big damage. This starts in the middle with Kenny Clark plugging up the inside gaps, but doing it against Ben Jones will be no easy task.

So what do you think of the Green Bay Packers’ chances to win these crucial matchups and the game this week? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @DairylandXpress.