Another wide receiver is out for the Arizona Cardinals in Sunday’s Week 13 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Wide receiver Zach Pascal, who has been away from the team for personal reasons, did not make the trip to Pittsburgh. Pascal missed practice on Thursday and Friday while awaiting the birth of his son, who was born on Friday.
Pascal had been officially listed as questionable to play against the Steelers. The Cardinals had already ruled out rookie starter Michael Wilson, who has been dealing with a shoulder injury.
Pascal is probably the closest player to being a true replacement to Wilson on the Arizona roster. Both are 6-foot-2. Instead, it will be a pair of 5-foot-7 slot receivers, Rondale Moore and Greg Dortsch that are expected to step up alongside starter Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, who is also questionable to play with an injury.
Brown missed two practices last week with a heel injury but played through the injury in Arizona’s Week 12 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. He caught six passes for 88 yards in that contest, while clearly less than 100%.
“It’s one of those things that you just need to toughen up, and I was able to,” Brown said to AZCardinals.com. “Didn’t get the results we wanted, so it was unfortunate.”
Brown didn’t practice at all this week and is officially listed as questionable, but is expected to once again attempt to play. Brown has been Arizona’s top receiving threat this season. He is first on the team in targets (98), catches (51), receiving yards (574) and receiving touchdowns (4).
With Pascal out, Andre Baccellia will be the fourth wide receiver. The second-year Washington alum has played just 18 snaps of offense this season and has no catches. Additionally, former Steelers wide receiver Dan Chisena was promoted from the practice squad to the active roster for the game.