Shell Throws Schroeder to Bengals, Fans : Raiders: After getting booed in relief of injured Beuerlein last week, quarterback returns to starting lineup Sunday.

You’re Jay Schroeder.

You’ve got your health and your wealth, $1 million a year worth.

You run out onto the Coliseum field Sunday--what?

You say you’re not playing any more? You’re too smart for that? You know what’s going to happen: Schroeder’s friends and neighbors are going to boo him from here to Twentynine Palms and it’s not worth it?

You must not be Jay Schroeder, after all. The real Jay Schroeder is showing up as advertised and says he’s looking forward to it.

Raider Coach Art Shell bowed to the obvious Wednesday, taking Steve Beuerlein and his wounded knee off day-to-day status and announcing Schroeder as Sunday’s starter against the Cincinnati Bengals. Thus he entrusts his team’s new era of good feeling, and perhaps its playoff chances, to a quarterback who has completed 28% of his passes in his last three games.

Schroeder warmed up last Sunday, relieving Beuerlein and getting booed from the moment he pulled off his baseball cap.

Did it have a salutary effect?

On his first pass attempt, a short pattern, he double-clutched, threw late and bounced the ball at a receiver’s feet. He went one for eight.

What, him worry?

“Fans are going to do what fans do everywhere in the world,” Schroeder said cheerfully. “I do the same thing when I watch basketball and baseball, so . . .

“What you have to do when you’re a player is block that out and go from there. It takes some doing, but once you get in the game mentally and physically, nothing else really matters.”

He’s no rookie at it, either. In 1986, his first season as a starter with the Washington Redskins, he completed a mere 51% but rallied the team to victory in nine fourth quarters and took them to the NFC championship game.

In game after game, he was booed by the Robert F. Kennedy Stadium fans who know something about booing . . . and cheered . . . and booed and cheered. Mr. Hyde played quarterback the first three quarters, but the fourth quarter belonged to Dr. Jekyll.

The next season, he fell to 48% and lost his job--forever, it turned out.

Moral: There were times when he was able to fight his way back, and times when he couldn’t.

That brings us to this week, with Beuerlein having suggested point- edly that the problem with the offense wasn’t its scheme but its quarterback.

Whatever happened to Schroeder? After three games this season, he was at 57% and 18 yards a completion.

After Art Shell replaced Mike Shanahan, amid promises that the old ways and the long ball were coming back, Schroeder, the Daryle Lamonica prototype and bomber extraordinaire with the arm to match anyone’s, tried to go down the field.

Instead, he went south.

“I probably tried to make the big play too often,” he said.

“We tried to drop back and throw the ball down the field a lot. In the first couple of weeks, we weren’t doing that. We were taking it when it came. We have to get back to doing that. When the long ball is there, you take your shot. When it’s not, you dump the ball underneath.”

Could there have been another factor? The Raider organization had several key Beuerlein proponents, who liked what they saw last season when he was an overmatched first-year starter, and liked even more Beuerlein’s terrific exhibition season.

Schroeder’s biggest booster was Shanahan. When Shanahan was fired, Schroeder may have sensed that his margin for error was dwindling.

When Schroeder was relieved with the team leading the Kansas City Chiefs, the future was clear.

When Beuerlein exploded against the Redskins, the future was clearer. Until further notice, it’s Beuerlein’s.

And Schroeder’s future?

He may not have Beuerlein’s infectious enthusiasm, but he clearly has the requisite ability. He is tough and looks like he truly believes in himself. His post-benching conduct, compared to his experience in Washington, where he withdrew angrily, shows that he is capable of learning from his mistakes.

“I’m not worried about (the No. 1 job),” Schroeder said. “I have to play well. I’m going to let my talents dictate what I do. If I do the things I’m capable of doing, I can match anybody in the league. There’s no problem about that. If I’m able to play the game I think I can, there’s no problem.”

Raider Notes

The Raiders signed quarterback Vince Evans, another indication that they’re prepared for Steve Beuerlein to miss more than this week. Evans, 34, has been selling Mercedes-Benzes in the South Bay and staying in shape by playing catch with a former UCLA walk-on named Sanjay Lal. “He had gotten released from UCLA,” Evans said wryly, “so immediately we had something in common.” Evans was waived in camp, and this is his third Raider stint.

Safety Eddie Anderson has a hamstring pull, is limping noticeably and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game. Vann McElroy is out, and the next free safety would probably be Mike Harden or Russell Carter. . . . Return man Bobby Joe Edmonds has an ankle injury and was placed on injured reserve to make room for Evans.