Raiders Decide to Try Schroeder : He Will Start Against Broncos; Beuerlein Has Tests on Shoulder

“You’re riding high in April, shot down in May . . . “

You’re the Raiders.

You’re Steve Beuerlein.

You’re Bo Jackson.

You’re the Raider defense.

Beuerlein got his demotion to No. 2 Tuesday, along with a trip to the hospital for tests on his sore shoulder. With the Raiders’ passing game dead in the water, Coach Mike Shanahan decided to go back to Jay Schroeder for Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos.

How bad are the Raiders going?

One of the great receiver corps ever assembled is dying on the vine.

Willie Gault has caught 2 passes since the first month of the season.

James Lofton hasn’t caught a touchdown pass.

The Raiders have had 13 or fewer completions in 6 of the last 7 games.

Their problem is that they have a first-year quarterback who knows their offense but who has no experience, and a veteran who has never run their offense.

“In the last 10 days, Jay has really practiced well,” Shanahan said. “I’ve really felt good about Jay. . . . It’s not only me, the coaching staff could see a marked improvement in his confidence.

“With Steve, any time you don’t move the ball and you have the completion percentage we’ve had, sure you lose confidence. That’s the nature of the game, especially for a quarterback coming in in his first year. That’s the growing pains you have with a first-year quarterback.

“Steve knows as well as anybody, he’s in there, he’s got to make those plays and if he doesn’t, it’s hard to get that ball in the end zone.”

“I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king . . .”

Whatever happened to Bo Jackson?

Even if he hadn’t approached his heights of a year ago, he was knocking off a tidy 4.6 yards a carry until the Falcon flop when he was held to 25 yards in 9 carries, his pro low for any start in which he wasn’t forced out with an injury.

Monday night, he gained 31 yards in 13 carries.

What’s the problem?

Because Bo rarely sits for interviews, try these:

--Maybe he’s tired?

The man played a full baseball season, and is now coming to the end of half a football season. A year ago, he rested on the Kansas City Royals’ bench from mid-August on, but this season he played every day.

--Maybe he doesn’t have the same burning desire to prove himself?

A year ago he was a bust in baseball, coming off the indignation of being benched. Now he’s a hot property in baseball and he has already shown what kind of a football player he might be.

--Maybe he’s home run crazy?

On a lot of carries, Jackson seems to be waiting for a lane to open so he can run another 93 yards, rather than just hitting whatever hole is there.

--Maybe the offense is too predictable?

This would be ironic, because Shanahan is much more interested in keeping opponents off balance than was the case in the old Raider here-we-come-try-to-stop-us orthodoxy.

Shanahan, however, might have fallen into a trap: Trying to integrate Jackson into the offense, establish a running game and allow Beuerlein and Schroeder to get their feet on the ground, he seems to have become predictable.

After the Atlanta game, new Falcon Mitch Willis reportedly asked one of his former Raider teammates, “Do you guys realize you’re running 73% of the time on first down?”

--Maybe Bo is losing his taste for life in two fast lanes?

Before Monday night’s game, a Raider official mused that Jackson didn’t seem as involved with his teammates as he did last season, that he seems less enthusiastic.

Remember that the Royals are trying to sign him to a baseball-only contract, and might well be willing to match that $800,000 or so in present value that Jackson’s Raider contract is worth.

Remember, too, that the only time Jackson ever made a firm declaration of what he would do, a year ago, he said: “I’ll tell you now and I want this to sink in, baseball is what I’ll make my career out of, not football.”

That has always been the problem, the possibility the Raiders’ hobby horse would one day just take a walk on them.

“I’ve been up and down and over and out . . . “

Whatever happened to the Raiders’ defensive front?

Ready for canonization, or installation in the Bikers’ Hall of Fame after the 49er game a couple of weeks ago, it gave up 130 yards rushing to the Falcons, which is a little high for would-be dominators, and got torn to pieces by the Seahawks Monday night. Two hundred forty-seven yards rushing? Two backs with 100-yard games?

“That’s life, and as funny as it seems, some people get their kicks stomping on a dream . . . “

Those must be the Seahawks and Broncos, who lead the Raiders by a game.

However . . .

If the Raiders can pull themselves back together to beat Denver in the Coliseum Sunday--they’re favored--and if the Seahawks lose at New England--they’re underdogs--the Raiders are right back in the pole position.

Everyone would then be 7-7. The Raiders would need only a Week 15 Bronco loss in Seattle and a closing victory over the Seahawks in the Coliseum to taste the fruits of victory, as another famous Italian likes to say, especially around World Series time when his team is in it.

Raider Notes

The Raiders are expected to bring back Vince Evans in case Steve Beuerlein’s shoulder sidelines him. . . . Monday night was also tough for Coach Mike Shanahan. His cadence system didn’t work and had to be jettisoned, after 5 straight motion penalties. He went ultra-conservative, kicking rather than trying a last pass into the end zone from the Seahawks’ 13-yard line with 9 seconds left in the first half.

Heroes and villains: Nickel back Lionel Washington intercepted a pass and caused a fumble. He also got burned for 3 of Dave Krieg’s 5 touchdown passes. . . . Left guard John Gesek will miss the Denver game with a knee injury. Russell Carter and Matt Millen (concussions) and Vann McElroy (tracheal injury) are expected to play.