Heap’s return to Charm City in jeopardy

For Arizona Cardinal fans who tune into Sunday’s road game
against the Baltimore Ravens, there may be a little
feeling of nostalgia.

How can you blame them? It’ll be the first time that
Anquan Boldin, who spent his first seven years in the
league in Cardinal red, will play against his former team.

But on the other side, it’ll be strange for Baltimore
faithful to see former Ravens Pro Bowl tight end Todd Heap
on the field at M&T Bank Stadium wearing colors other than
black and purple. That is, if Heap plays.

The second-leading receiver in Ravens’ history has been
bothered by a hamstring injury that has kept him out of
Arizona’s last two games. Heap was limited in practice on
Wednesday and his status is still up in the air for
Sunday.

“Taking it day to day right now,” Heap said. “I’m hoping
that I’ll be ready and one-hundred percent.”

Heap also did his best to downplay his potential
homecoming when he spoke with the media, but he did talk
about how he felt when his exodus from Baltimore actually
went down.

“It was something that obviously that hit me out of left
field, and I didn’t see it coming,” he said. “I kind of
just had to take it all in stride and anytime something
like that happens, you look forward and see what’s in
store for you, and that’s kind of what I’ve done and I’ve
tried not to look back.”

Even if Heap can’t go on Sunday, his experience in facing
the fierce Ravens’ defense in practice every day for ten
years has got to be valuable for a team trying to break a
5-game losing streak.

“I know what Ed [Reed] is capable of, I know what Ray
[Lewis] is capable of. I know what Terrell Suggs is
capable of,” Heap said. “I’ve seen all the guys for so
many years that you can still watch them and see how
impressive they are, to be doing what they’re doing.”

The Ravens host the Cardinals at 10:00 a.m. Sunday
morning.

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