Meet Vikings Quarterback # 13 Kelly Holcomb

Bryan Kelly Holcomb was born on July 9, 1973, in Fayetteville, TN, and attended Lincoln County High School. While at Lincoln, he lettered in football, baseball, and basketball. Bryan uses his middle name and goes by the professional name of Kelly Holcomb. Kelly attended college at Middle Tennessee, and was inducted into the Tennessee Scholastic Collegiate Hall of Fame in 1994. Kelly Holcolmb currently holds a degree in exercise science.

In his freshman season at Middle Tennessee, Kelly played in 11 games and made two playoff appearances. He threw 209 passes completing 130 for 1,763 yards and five touchdowns. He saw action in 43 games, missing the only game of his career with a fractured jaw in his sophomore season. Even with the fractured jaw, Kelly managed to throw 168 passes, completing 92 for 1,406 yards, 9 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. As a junior, he started in 11 games and posted 133 completions on 244 attempts for 1,738 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions. He finished as his schools all-time leader in pass completions at 501, he made 801 attempts, and 7,064 passing yards. In his senior season at Middle Tennessee, Kelly was 146 of 244 and 2,154 yards, 15 touchdowns, and nine interceptions, to earn First-Team All-Ohio Valley Conference Honors. Kelly Holcomb entered the NFL as an un-drafted rookie with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1995.

Kelly did not make an appearance for the Buccaneers in his one year hiatus in Tampa. Kelly was then traded to the Indianapolis Colts in 1996, and stayed there for five seasons as back up to Peyton Manning. Holcomb played in five games while with the Colts all in 1997. In his 1997 debut, he made his first career start against the Cincinnati Bengals, and threw his first career touchdown to Marvin Harrison. In his 1997 season, Kelly threw 75 passes completing 45, and threw for 454 yards. Kelly threw only one touchdown, 8 interceptions, and was sacked 11 times. Kelly did not make any appearances from 1998-2001.

In 2001, Holcomb was traded to the Cleveland Browns, and played in one game coming off the bench versus Tennessee. In that game Kelly threw 12 passes completing seven. He threw one touchdown, no interceptions, and was not sacked. In his only game that season, Kelly had a quarterback rating of 118.1. Holcomb then started in two games in 2002 for Cleveland, and notched his first win as a started against Cincinnati with a passer rating of 99.0. He started in the season opener against Kansas City throwing for 326 yards, 3 touchdowns, no interceptions, and received a passer rating of 120.2. In his two games in 2002, Holcomb threw 106 passes completing 64 for 790 yards. Holcomb threw 8 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, and was sacked 5 times. He ended the season with a 92.9 passer rating.

Holcomb's best season was in 2003, where he played in 10 games, and started in eight. He set career highs with 302 attempts, had 193 completions for 1,797 yards. He threw his career long pass of 68 yards to Quincy Morgan in a game against Arizona, and had a career best 141.9 passer rating. Kelly also threw 10 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and was sacked 21 times. His sack ratio was 2.1 time sacked per game.

In 2004, Kelly played in four games and started two. In this season, he notched a career best 413 yards passing, threw 5 touchdown passes, and had his second best passer rating of 128.5. He won his final game as a Brown, defeating Houston in the season finale on January 2, 2005. Kelly was then traded to Buffalo.

In his 2005 season with the Bills, Kelly played in 10 games and made 8 starts. He threw for 308 yards in a win against Cincinnati and had a passer rating of 100+ points in three games. In 2005 he threw 230 passes completing 155 for 1, 509 yards. Holcomb threw 10 touchdowns, 8 interceptions, and was sacked 17 times. He ended the season with a passer rating of 70.9. Kelly did not play a game for the Bills in 2006. In March of 2007, Kelly was acquired by the Philadelphia Eagles, the picked up by the Minnesota Vikings for a 6th round draft pick in 2009.

In his 2007 season, Kelly Holcomb has played in two games, and made two starts. He has thrown 67 passes and completed 35 of his passes. Holcomb has only one touchdown and one interception, and was sacked 10 times. OUCH!!!!! Holcomb had his best game against the Green Bay Packers, where he completed 21 of 39 passes for 258 yards. In that game he threw one touchdown, one interception and was sacked 5 times in a 23-16 loss.

Holcolmb would be the likely starter this week if Tarvaris Jackson's broken finger on his throwing hand bothers him too much. Holcomb is the only Viking Quarterback this season to throw for over 200 yards in a game, but has only reached the end zone one time. With the Vikings lack luster offense, and less than average receiving corps, it would be hard for any quarterback to do much with these guys. Holcomb is the only quarterback in about a year to show signs of life, as he moved the Vikings down the field, making the most passing yards in one game, and is only one touchdown away from tying Tarvaris Jackson's 2 touchdowns in his 5 games. He is also the only Vikings quarterback to throw for over 200 yards since Brad Johnson did it in week 12 last year, and Tarvaris Jackson's 213 yards passing in week 17 last season.

Although Kelly Holcomb is not the answer to the Vikings offensive woes this season, he seems to be a much better candidate than the other two quarterbacks we have to this point. As I said in my blog yesterday, Tarvaris Jackson is too raw, and has not had the proper nurturing and preparation to be in the NFL yet. Given more time to mature and learn how to play in the NFL, I think Jackson will succeed in the this league. But for now lets see what our guy Kelly Holcomb can do. If Tarvaris Jackson can not start this week due to injury, then hopefully head coach Brad Childress will have the insight to go with Kelly Holcomb.

SKOL HOLCOMB!!!!
&
SKOL VIKINGS!!!!!