Raiders Calling Audible : Pro football: Marinovich says Shell told him Schroeder will start against Seattle.

By STEVE SPRINGER

Nov. 10, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Todd Marinovich is back on the bench.

Jay Schroeder is back in the huddle.

For the second time this season, the Raiders will change starting quarterbacks, replacing Marinovich with Schroeder for Sunday’s game at the Coliseum against the Seattle Seahawks.

Marinovich was pulled from last Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles slightly more than five minutes into the second quarter after throwing his third interception.

Schroeder went the rest of the way in a 31-10 Raider loss.

At his weekly postgame press conference on Monday, Coach Art Shell wouldn’t tell reporters which way he was leaning when the subject of this week’s starter came up.

“I haven’t sat down with the staff yet and totally talked about it,” Shell said. “We’re looking into our whole football team and seeing if there’s anything that we can do to make our team better.”

But before Marinovich left the team’s El Segundo training headquarters late Monday afternoon, Shell told him he was being demoted.

“I’m disappointed,” Marinovich said as he headed out the door minutes after learning he is again the backup. “I’ve still got time on my side. That’s the only positive thing. I’m just starting my career.”

It’s already been an up-and-down career and he’s only 23.

He was a star in the first season he played at USC, then struggled his second year as his relationship with Coach Larry Smith turned stormy.

Off the field, Marinovich had academic problems, and legal problems involving drugs.

But he put all that behind him and turned pro, becoming a Raider first-round draft choice in 1991.

Marinovich sat most of his first season, waiting his turn behind Schroeder, who has been in the league since 1984. But when Schroeder was hurt at the end of the season, Marinovich started the regular-season finale and the Raiders’ only playoff game, losing both.

When Schroeder, who threw 16 interceptions along with 15 touchdown passes, started out the exhibition season the same way, it seemed inevitable he would give way to his young challenger.

That’s certainly what the Coliseum crowds wanted. They booed Schroeder almost every time he had the ball.

When the Raiders started the season 0-2, management made its move even though Schroeder threw for 380 yards in that second game.

Marinovich had his moments as the starter, including consecutive victories over the New York Giants and the Buffalo Bills.

The Raiders won their third consecutive game a week later against Seattle, but Marinovich spent most of that game on the bench after suffering a sprained left knee during the first quarter. When the injury proved to be minor, Shell brought Marinovich back the next week.

But not this time.

“It’s tough to take,” Marinovich said. “Art told me they made the move to me because we were not winning and they are making the move back to Jay because we are not winning.”

Marinovich has had to endure the typical struggles associated with an inexperienced player trying to learn the most difficult position in football.

He’s not unique. Both John Elway and Warren Moon threw more interceptions than touchdown passes in their first season. Hall of Famer John Unitas had to play semipro ball before he made it in the NFL.

Even Raider great Ken Stabler, to whom Marinovich has often been compared, had two false starts as the starting quarterback when the team was in Oakland.

Marinovich, who would be a senior at USC had he not left, has started nine games. He has completed 81 of 165 passes this season (49%) for five touchdowns with nine interceptions.

At times, he has looked out of control, throwing ill-advised passes and trying to do too much. At other times, he has been the epitome of control, coolly avoiding a heavy rush and finding an open receiver as if he had been in the league for a decade.

Does Shell worry that he might damage the confidence of the 23-year-old Marinovich by benching him?

“You worry about all those things,” the Raider coach said. “You take all those things into consideration. You worry about the psyche of every quarterback whether it’s a veteran quarterback or a young quarterback. Nobody likes to be taken out of a game. They like to finish what they started, but sometimes, as coaches, you have to replace somebody.”

In describing his reasoning for taking Marinovich out of the Eagle game, Shell said: “He was struggling . . . and I felt it was time because he was probably going to struggle more and more and keep pressing. I decided to change the atmosphere, go with Jay and see what Jay could do.”

Marinovich feels he has done quite a bit in the short time he has been in there.

“When I got the spot, I knew it was not going to be easy,” he said. “But I felt I had improved my reads (of the defense) and that I was getting better and better.

“Jay would help me when I came off the field, telling me things I didn’t see. I’m going to try and do the same thing for him.”

But Marinovich is not looking forward to Sunday.

“It’s no fun sitting on the bench,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult trying to keep my mind in the game, trying to study it like I was going to be starting. But anything can happen.”

As Marinovich knows all too well.