PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : RAIDERS : Schroeder’s Steady Play Means No QB Controversy

A quarterback controversy has the potential to be the most incendiary of all the issues that can affect a football team.

Such a controversy flared at the end of last season, boiled all summer and threatened to explode at the start of this season.

But it has died slowly but steadily in recent weeks.

Jay Schroeder or Todd Marinovich?

The only controversy these days is between Marinovich and Vince Evans for the backup QB job.

Schroeder, plagued by interceptions and inconsistency last season and early this season, has been stable and sharp since regaining the starting quarterback job from Marinovich four games ago.

The Raiders have won three of those four. In that span, Schroeder has thrown seven touchdown passes and four interceptions.

“He has been very steady,” said Raider Coach Art Shell. “He has really improved a whole lot in his play and his decision making. It’s been really good. He has good command out there on the football field, recognizing what the defense is trying to do to him and making adjustments.”

Sunday was a good example. Schroeder passed for only 93 yards, but made the most of them with three touchdown passes in the Raiders’ 28-7 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tim Brown, the Raiders’ leading receiver with 35 catches, failed to catch one Sunday.

Brown, who was nursing a sprained ankle all week, re-injured it while making his first punt return Sunday. But he stayed in the game.

Ironically, the only other game this season in which Brown failed to make a catch was the first game against the Chiefs. Brown sat out that game because of a hamstring injury.