Bee staff writer Matthew Barrows is at 49ers training camp in Santa Clara. Look for his blogs throughout the day at www.sacbee.com/ blogs. The following are excerpts from Thursday:
Mike Martz isn't bringing the "Greatest Show on Turf" to San Francisco, but you can expect to see quite a few passing plays (tonight) against the Raiders. After all, the most important evaluation will be of the quarterbacks, and you can't evaluate a quarterback unless he throws the ball.
"There's going to be a little bit more of the passing early on just to get a look," coach Mike Nolan said.
Nolan said Wednesday that J.T. O'Sullivan would start against the Raiders because, unlike Alex Smith and Shaun Hill, he hasn't seen O'Sullivan in an in-game situation. …
As for Smith, this will be the first time since his rookie season he has started a game on the sideline when he was healthy. Smith said the key was not to get upset about the situation, but rather to take advantage of the repetitions he will get starting in the second quarter. Smith said the three quarterbacks were given the same explanation Wednesday that Nolan gave the media – that O'Sullivan was starting because Nolan hadn't seen him in a game. Asked if there has been any assurance he would start a future exhibition game, Smith said, "I have no idea. I haven't been told anything."
• Nolan said the following players would not play tonight: running back Michael Robinson, guard David Baas, safety Lewis Baker, safety Mark Roman and wide receivers Ashley Lelie and Bryant Johnson. Wide receiver Isaac Bruce will be a game-time decision, meaning the starting wideouts could be Josh Morgan and Arnaz Battle. Frank Gore will start the game, but don't expect him to play all that much.
• With Roman out, Michael Lewis will wear the radio receiver when the first-team defense is in the game. Lewis is one of a handful of defensive players who, barring injury, never leaves the game. Lewis said Roman usually would be the guy who wears it.
• Rookie QB Kyle Wright got his first extensive repetitions of training camp when he ran the scout-team offense. That is, Wright was giving his best JaMarcus Russell impersonation.
