• Remember the running game?
  

We all know the Packers are going to attempt to throw the ball all over the yard when the Packers visit the Eagles on Sunday afternoon. Everyone also knows that Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott tries to keep quarterbacks guessing by bringing and dropping guys from all across the front, trying to create favorable matchups for his linebackers and defensive backs when they blitz. The Eagles are hoping first round pick Brandon Graham will enable them to get to the quarterback with a four man rush but from what I saw this preseason, Graham looks miscast as a defensive end, at least until he has a year and an offseason in an NFL weight room. He just can't win one-on-ones with the bigger right tackles he's facing at the NFL level. He's got all kinds of skill, but right now I think he needs help from the scheme to get to the quarterback.

The one player on the Eagles defense that doesn't need scheme help to get to the quarterback is defensive end Trent Cole, the teams best defensive player. And unfortunately for the Packers, he matches up well with Chad Clifton. McCarthy would do well to run the ball at Cole to try to take away his aggressiveness a bit, at least early on.

Kareem Copleland has a good bit about Daryn Colledge in the Green Bay Press Gazette's Notebook today regarding Colledge's experience and what that will mean when it comes to protecting Rodgers. Something I think Daryn doesn't get a lot of credit for is his technique in run blocking. He's not a road grader by any stretch of the imagination, but more often than not he has excellent technique and does a great job getting off the initial double team. The play below is a textbook example of Colledge getting to the second level and taking care of the safety:

Ryan Grant and the running game kind of flew under the radar during the preseason, though McCarthy did seem to be leaning on it early against the Colts. I think McCarthy will surprise some fans, and maybe McDermott, with a liberal use of the running game on Sunday.

• When the Eagles go to nickel, get Finley on Sims

The Eagles sent a fifth round pick to Denver to acquire Ernie Sims from Detroit in a rare three-team trade this past offseason. If his play during preseason is any indication, Sims will definitely bring some much needed athleticism and hitting ability to the Eagles linebacking corps. But he's reckless and is prone to overrunning things. It's also interesting to note that they keep him in on passing downs along with Stewart Bradley in the nickel package. This is a bit of a surpise if only because I think Akeem Jordan is better in coverage but they must like Sims' potential as a blitzer there.

If and when that happens, McCarthy will find every way possible to get Jermichael Finely matched up on Sims. You can bet on a lot of zone pressure stuff to try and limit the amount of man coverage they end up running, but when they do go man, Finely can take anyone on this defense.  The key will be moving him around and especially getting him into the secondary off the line, rather than split out. If Finley starts out in-line, you'll see Sims or Bradley have to take him and that can only spell good things for the Packers.

What will be interesting is how much McCarthy tries to work downfield early. At safety the Eagles are starting Quintin Mikell, who's actually a pretty good in-the-box safety but not a great cover guy, and their second round pick Nate Allen who I think is going to be a real good player - but he's ripe for the picking by the likes of Greg Jennings and Donald Driver on the post-flag routes McCarthy loves to call almost two or three times every game.