Mike McCarthy said that DE Cullen Jenkins practiced on Wednesday, and depending on how he feels after practice this week, he could play on Sunday against the Eagles. It's been a rough season for Jenkins, and this marks the second time that I've wrote about him in this series of posts. It's hard to believe they've been without him over the past four games, since he injured his calf near the end of the 49ers game. And this Sunday marks his return to Philadelphia, where he broke his hand in week 1. There are a couple different sub-plots involved here with his return.
First, RB LeSean McCoy is having a monster season, not just as a runner, but as a receiver too. Bleeding Green Nation doesn't expect the Packers weak run defense will have any impact on whether Andy Reid decides to run the ball. I wouldn't expect Jenkins's return will have much impact on how they play run defense, which has seemed to involve a jumbo line with NT Howard Green playing at Jenkins's spot on early downs. But he'll probably push DE Jarius Wynn out of the rotation, which has seen a lot more of Wynn (with little production in return) as a pass rusher.
Second, his return will put a lot more pressure on the Eagles offensive line. The Wednesday injury report had three of their five starting offensive lineman on it. I expect they'll all play, but that doesn't mean they're 100% healthy. Or happy to see Jenkins return.