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O’Sullivan impresses

Journeyman quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan will start for San Francisco Saturday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Journeyman quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan will start for San Francisco Saturday. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

J.T. O’Sullivan took another step closer to becoming the San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback.

O’Sullivan was selected by coach Mike Nolan on Thursday to start San Francisco’s exhibition home opener against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday. O’Sullivan also started the 49ers preseason opener last week at Oakland.

Nolan continues to assert there is a three-way competition between O’Sullivan and holdovers Alex Smith and Shaun Hill to become the starter for the team’s regular-season opener Sept. 7 against Arizona.

But O’Sullivan clearly has taken the lead in that competition. He has taken all the snaps with San Francisco’s first-unit offense in team drills during training camp practices this week and will start against a team he spent time with in 2004.

O’Sullivan did not take any snaps in 11-on-11 team drills during the first seven days of training camp as Smith and Hill got all the work. But both players have come along slowly this summer in new coordinator Mike Martz’s complex offensive system.

O’Sullivan worked in that system last year when he and Martz were with the Detroit Lions.

O’Sullivan played in four games with the Lions last season and threw the first regular-season passes of his NFL career.

A sixth-year journeyman with his eighth NFL team, O’Sullivan moved the San Francisco offense while completing 5 of 8 passes for 71 yards in one quarter of action last week against the Raiders.

Jones makes case

Adam “Pacman” Jones, the Dallas Cowboys’ suspended cornerback said he’s sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell asking to be allowed to play this season.

“I think it should be successful, I did everything he asked me to do,” Jones said of the 1 1/2 -page letter he typed on a laptop computer and sent Wednesday night.

While Jones is allowed to play in preseason games, the Cowboys don’t know when they will find out if he will be fully reinstated for the regular season. Goodell has said only that a decision would come before the regular season.

The league also wanted an update from Jones on what he’s doing to stay out of trouble.

Jones, who hasn’t played in an NFL game since the Tennessee Titans’ season finale on Dec. 31, 2006, received partial reinstatement from the league on June 2 and was allowed to participate in the Cowboys’ practices, training camp and preseason games.

Around the league

Trent Edwards was near-perfect in two series, going 9 for 11 for 104 yards and two touchdowns, in Buffalo’s 24-21 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. … Jake Delhomme was 9 of 14 for 54 yards in his first real action since ligament-replacement surgery in October, but Tony Hunt’s 51-yard touchdown run with 2:15 left led Philadelphia to a 24-13 victory over Carolina. … New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Hollis Thomas could be out two months with a right triceps injury, all but ensuring that top draft pick Sedrick Ellis will be thrust into a major role on the interior of the defensive line this season. … Tennessee starting right tackle David Stewart underwent arthroscopic surgery and will be sidelined two to three weeks.