Schroeder’s Up After a Downer : Raiders: He is back as starter but has perspective of being on other side.

Quarterback Jay Schroeder, with enough microphones and cameras in front of him to hold a presidential debate, stepped up to the lectern at the Raider news conference Wednesday and announced, “We’re back.”

Back as the starting quarterback, replacing Todd Marinovich for Sunday’s game at the Coliseum against the Seattle Seahawks. Back in the spotlight. Back in the role of trying to lead a 3-6 team seemingly heading nowhere.

Was it really only eight weeks ago that Schroeder stood at that same lectern, faced many of the same members of the media and graciously answered questions about his demotion from the starting job?

He shrugged off the more painful questions that day, including one about whether he was finished.

And he shrugged off any opportunity to publicly savor his latest promotion on Wednesday.

Now in his ninth NFL season, Schroeder understands the pitfalls of getting too emotional about being on either side of a quarterback controversy.

And he has been on both sides.

If Marinovich needs assurance his return to the sideline is not the end of his football world, he need look no further than the man who has taken his place.

Schroeder was in Marinovich’s place in 1987. Schroeder was 26, a member of the Washington Redskins and had all the potential a young quarterback could want.

But he also had more. Unlike Marinovich, Schroeder had two seasons behind him, including a Pro Bowl year, and had started 26 games.

Yet, by the time the Redskins reached the Super Bowl after the ’87 season, Schroeder was on the bench, replaced by Doug Williams. Williams went on to lead Washington to victory.

It wasn’t easy for Schroeder to take.

Now 31, he has weathered this quarterback controversy on a much more even keel.

“I think I’ve grown up a lot,” he said.

Schroeder didn’t pout when he was replaced. And he certainly didn’t gloat Wednesday after getting his job back.

“I don’t think it’s a major change,” he said. “It’s no different than before. We’re trying to find ways to win football games. That’s the bottom line. We basically need to go 7-0 the rest of the way if we want a legitimate chance. The coaching staff felt they’d shake it up again and see what happens.”

Schroeder began the season as the starting quarterback but lost his job after the team lost its first two games.

“I never worried about it, to tell you the truth,” Schroeder said. “In the back of your mind, you always think, ‘Yeah, it’s going to come back to you.’ Especially in this day and time, it’s very rare that one quarterback goes through the entire season staying healthy. And then, on top of that, when you have things going the way we have the last couple of weeks, it’s very difficult.”

Under Marinovich, who started two games as a rookie last season, the Raiders were 3-4 this season.

But one of those victories really belonged to Schroeder. Against the Seahawks in Seattle, Marinovich was knocked out of action in the first quarter because of a knee injury. Schroeder came on and engineered a 19-0 victory.

But he returned to the bench the next week, waiting his turn while Marinovich went through the ups and downs of an NFL quarterback.

Ultimately, in the minds of Raider management, the downs outweighed the ups.

“He had problems trying to read the coverages,” Raider Coach Art Shell said of Marinovich. “He misread things. There were times we had people open and he didn’t get the ball there.

“I’m not blaming him because Jay would do some of the same things and we sat him down.

“Todd is disappointed. But Todd is also young and he’ll learn from this. We’re not blaming him. We’ve just got to find ways to make our offense go.”

Faced with the task of telling a 23-year-old quarterback his promising career is on hold, at least temporarily, Shell reached back into Raider history to offer hope.

“People compare you to Ken Stabler,” Shell told Marinovich, “and Snake (Stabler) went through some of this. He started one season and (Daryle) Lamonica ended up (as the starter) that season for us. Still, Snake went on to have a great career.”

Marinovich listened and tried to find comfort in the example. But the harsh reality of finding himself back on the sideline after the ninth start of his career still hurts.

“I was shocked,” Marinovich said. “I think I can learn more on the field than on the sidelines. But when they call on me again, I’ll be ready.”

Marinovich wasn’t necessarily buying the theory that his problems came from an inability to properly read coverages.

“Football is football,” he said. “They can’t throw anything at me I haven’t seen.”

With that, Marinovich headed back into the Raiders’ locker room. There would be no news conference for him Wednesday. No lectern to speak from. He will have to wait until an unfortunate injury or an untimely slump brings the pendulum back to his side.

“He’ll grow from all this,” Shell said. “He’ll learn and he’ll get his opportunity to do well again.”