Kelly Holcomb

Bryan Kelly Holcomb (born July 9, 1973, in Fayetteville, Tennessee) is an American football quarterback who plays for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. Holcomb started his playing career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1996 and has also played for the Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills, and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Holcomb attended Lincoln County High School in Fayetteville, Tennessee, where Holcomb lettered in football, baseball, and basketball and led them to a state championship in 1990. Holcomb played college football at Middle Tennessee State University. He was quarterback for the now-defunct Barcelona Dragons of NFL Europe in 1996. His best season in the NFL was in 2003 with the Browns, in which he played in 10 games, starting 8 and throwing for a career high 1,797 passing yards and ten touchdowns. A backup to Peyton Manning of Indianapolis, Holcomb was cut in the 2000 off-season to be allowed to compete for the starting job with the expansion Cleveland Browns, following Bruce Arians who left as the QB coach of the Colts to become the offensive coordinator of the Browns. The Browns had drafted Tim Couch with the number 1 pick in the 1999 draft. During their time in Cleveland, Holcomb occasionally outshined the former number one pick. He has two of the most memorable passing performances in NFL history. A Wild Card game against Pittsburgh in January 2003 saw Holcomb become the 3rd QB in playoff history to throw for more than 400 yards. With no running support whatsoever, Holcomb shredded the Steelers' secondary. He finished with 429 yards, a new postseason record for a regulation game. However, Tommy Maddox rallied the Steelers late in the game to overcome a 17-point deficit and defeat the Browns, 36-33. It was only a year later that Holcomb had his best passing performance in the NFL, throwing for 412 yards, including 5 touchdowns, and completing 70% of his passes (30 of 39). Once again, his outstanding performance was not enough for a victory, as Cleveland lost that game to the Cincinnati Bengals by a record score of 58-48. After sustaining some unreported arm injuries, he struggled with consistency and left the Browns after the season. In 2005, Holcomb shared time with J.P. Losman in the quarterback position with the Buffalo Bills, starting in eight games and passing for 1,509 yards and 10 touchdowns and only 8 interceptions, including throwing for 308 yards and a touchdown in a win against the Cincinnati Bengals in week sixteen (the Bills' only road win of the year). He was traded on March 26, 2007 to the Philadelphia Eagles with Takeo Spikes for Darwin Walker and a conditional 2008 draft pick. On August 27, 2007, The Philadelphia Eagles traded Holcomb to the Minnesota Vikings for a 6th round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.

External links

• Kelly Holcomb at ESPN.com
• Pro-Football-Reference.com - career statistics.
• Current Stats - databaseFootball.com