The Arizona Cardinals continue to practice and prepare in advance of Sunday's game with the San Francisco 49ers. The game has been announced as a sellout, the 61st consecutive since opening University of Phoenix Stadium in 2006. With the sellout news, the game will be broadcast locally on KSAZ-TV (Fox) at 2:00 p.m.
The Cardinals continue to get healthy with TE Todd Heap feeling like he's turned the corner with his hamstring injury. He said that he might have pushed it too hard, too fast and set himself back in the healing process.
"Anytime you have a hamstring it's going to be a day-to-day thing, but I do have a lot more confidence on it right then I did this time last week," Heap said.
Heap was listed as limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday.
In more surprising Cardinals injury news, punter Dave Zastudil has been limited with a bicep injury suffered in last Sunday's game while trying to make a tackle on Cowboys WR Dez Bryany according to beat writer Kent Somers. According to Somers, the Cardinals worked out two punters (Chris Bryan and Robert Malone) in case Zastudil can't go.
Zastudil is averaging a career-high 45.6 yards per punt which puts just outside the top-ten in the NFL.
After Beanie Wells did not participate on Wednesday, he was back Thursday. The Cardinals had no players listed as DNP.
Others limited on Thursday include: S Sean Considine (achilles), LB Joey Porter (knee), S Kerry Rhodes (foot), RB Chris Wells (knee, thumb, hamstring).
For the 49ers, the news continues to be about LB Patrick Willis who did not participate in practice and could potentially miss the rest of the season:
Patrick Willis Injury Update: Could 49ers LB Miss The Rest Of The Regular Season? - SB Nation Bay Area
If forced to guess, Chang said that a wide window would be three to six weeks in recovery time for Willis. However, he cautioned that hamstring injuries can be "frustrating" because of the propensity for re-injury. "The scar tissue is not as flexible and re-injury can occur," he said. Three weeks would mean Willis could return in time for the season finale on Christmas Eve in Seattle. A five-week recovery would mean Willis would be ready for the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.
Todd Heap knows all about how frustrating hamstring injuries can be.