Notice Is Given Early That It’s a Day to Pass : Raiders: Schroeder hits Gault for 56 yards on game’s first play, finishes with four touchdown passes in 28-24 victory.

Quarterback Jay Schroeder of the Raiders was one of the first players on the field before Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, working on his dropbacks with assistant coach Mike White.

Although the repetitious practice may be tedious, the hard work paid off for Schroeder, who passed for 234 yards and four touchdowns as the Raiders defeated the Vikings, 28-24, at the Metrodome.

How impressive was Schroeder, who had the first four-touchdown game of his seven-year career? Well, on a 47-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Sam Graddy, Schroeder threw the ball more than 50 yards off the wrong foot.

Schroeder, who struggled in November, going five games without throwing a touchdown pass, has passed for 10 touchdowns as the Raiders have won four consecutive games.

“When we went 20 quarters without scoring a touchdown through the air we were running the ball,” Schroeder said. “It wasn’t that we weren’t scoring points. We were getting down there and the big guys were running the ball in and there was no reason to throw. Now we’ve changed it up a bit, and we’re throwing more in those situations and we’re keeping everybody off balance.”

During the slump, Raider Coach Art Shell didn’t lose confidence in Schroeder, even while the Raiders lost consecutive games to Kansas City and Green Bay en route to dropping three of five.

“Jay Schroeder’s always been a good quarterback,” Shell said. “I kept telling you guys that all year long. We lost two games and everybody wanted to bury the guy. The guy is a good quarterback. He just keeps fighting. He knows his teammates believe in him. That’s all that matters to him. It doesn’t matter what anybody else says about him. He feels good about himself, and I have all the confidence in the world that he’ll carry us.

“Everybody’s down on the guy. They won’t let the guy be a football player. If he has what some people consider a bad game they want to put him down and start somebody else. . . . But that’s not the case. Jay Schroeder’s our quarterback and he deserves to be.”

Schroeder, who was booed by Coliseum fans during his slump, doesn’t care whether he’s jeered or cheered.

“It really doesn’t matter,” Schroeder said. “I told you guys a long time ago in training camp that you can judge me by the wins and losses at the end of the year. I don’t worry about anything else. I think I’ve been around long enough to let things go in one ear and out the other, whether they’re good or bad.”

With the Vikings geared to stop Raider running backs Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen with an eight-man defensive front, Schroeder’s Raiders countered by going to their deep passing game.

“They shut our running game off,” said Jackson, held to 65 yards in 17 carries. “But I’ve never played against a perfect defense, and when they shut one part of our offense down, we went to the other and we took them out of the game with our passing game.”

Schroeder struck quickly, completing four of his first five passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns.

He combined with Willie Gault on a 56-yard pass on the first play of the game. Schroeder faked a toss to Allen, freezing the Viking secondary, and lofted a pass to Gault, who had beaten strong safety Joey Browner. But Gault had to stretch to catch the pass and fell at the Minnesota 17. Schroeder threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Mervyn Fernandez three plays later to cap the 73-yard, four-play drive.

Schroeder and Gault also combined on a 61-yard pass play to the Viking 10, setting up a three-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ethan Horton on the Raiders’ first drive of the fourth quarter.

Gault faked a post route and when Browner tried to cut underneath him, Gault ran a corner route and was wide open. But he stumbled again before scoring.

Although Graddy was supposed to be a decoy on his touchdown catch, clearing out an area to enable the Raiders’ other receivers time to work their way open on crossing routes, Schroeder threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Graddy after he noticed that Browner had left him open.

“I’ve always been in Jay’s corner because he’s a good quarterback,” Graddy said after the first touchdown reception of his career. “I practice with the guy and I see him throw the ball on the money.”

Schroeder also burned Browner on a 19-yard touchdown pass to Allen on the Raiders’ first drive of the second half.

With the Vikings blitzing, Schroeder eluded the rush and lofted a pass to Allen over Browner.

White, brought in this season to work with Schroeder, who threw five more interceptions than touchdowns last season, is pleased with Schroeder’s progress.

With one game left, Schroeder is assured of having his best season since the Raiders acquired him from the Redskins in 1988. He has passed for 2,687 yards, 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions, his best since throwing for 4,109 yards with 22 touchdowns and 22 interceptions in 1986 at Washington.

“I think it all goes back to what we talked about a long time ago in training camp,” White said. “Jay’s basically an inexperienced quarterback. He didn’t play well for two or three weeks, and maybe, internally, that little voice started telling him, ‘Here we go again.’

“Now he’s playing himself into a confident role. This is a tough game and being a quarterback in Los Angeles isn’t real easy. If you win it’s everybody else and if you lose it’s Jay. And yet he had enough confidence in himself to push himself through it. So I’m real proud of him.”