The Arizona Cardinals will face the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field soon this evening. However, they will do so without two of their tight ends. Todd Heap and Stephen Spach will both sit out the game. Heap sprained his thumb is last week's contest against the Oakland Raiders. Spach is out with a calf injury he suffered in practice.
Neither injury is serious. In fact, Heap would play if this were a regular season game.
What this does is open the door to rookie Robert Housler to show off what he can do. It also will give second-year tight end Jim Dray more looks.
The Cardinals are using the tight end much more in their offensive sets, so it goes to figure that three tight ends are a lock to make the roster. With the possibility of four, that leaves the veteran Spach and the young Dray looking at a bubble situation.
In particular, Dray needs to take advantage of the extra opportunities. Housler, on the other hand, will just be able to show what he can offer. We saw him score a touchdown last week and line up as a wide receiver in four-wide sets. His speed and height are sure to cause matchup problems if he shows enough consistency to make it onto the field.
Hopefully these young players can have a positive impact in a game that is more meaningful for them than it is for the entire team.
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