TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin participated in part of practice on Thursday and was upbeat about his chances of playing in Sunday's game at New Orleans.
Boldin, already slowed by a hip injury, sat out Sunday's loss at Seattle with a dislocated toe on his left foot. He's worn a protective boot most of the time since he was hurt in the previous week's home victory over Cleveland.
"I just tried to get out and test it out a little bit, you know, run around a little bit," Boldin said. "It's still a little sore, but I was able to do a couple of things on it. Unless anything happens, I should be out there Sunday."
Boldin has missed four games with injuries this season.
"Q did a little bit," coach Ken Whisenhunt said. "We're still kind of feeling it out, but he made some progress obviously."
Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald also was limited in practice with a strained left groin. He played despite the injury last Sunday and expects to do the same this week.
The Cardinals expect to get the return of safety Aaron Francisco, which would be good news for the team's beat-up secondary. Francisco, out the past three games with a calf injury, took part in the full practice.
"The only thing you've got to be careful of is you don't want to put too much on him during the week," Whisenhunt said. "You don't want to re-injure it, and he's making progress. Unless he has a setback tomorrow, I feel very good about him contributing in the game on Sunday."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.
