This Roy Hobbs series of Browns players who have come out of nowhere and done big things is made up mostly by those who performed in multiple years.

One exception to that is wide receiver Ricky Feacher, who got his name onto this list for what he did in a matter of three minutes in a key game in 1980 against Cincinnati Bengals, catching two touchdown passes to allow Cleveland to win the game and with it the AFC Central championship.

Then there’s Bill Nelsen, who had two great seasons in 1968 and ‘ 69 to lead the Browns to the doorstep of the Super Bowl.

Now in this, Part 28, we recall two other quarterbacks whose time in the limelight was, in one respect, just one season and in another respect, only one game.

With that, then, Derek Anderson in the 2007 season and Kelly Holcomb in the 2002 AFC wild-card playoffs against the Pittsburgh Steelers could be called shooting stars, shining brightly but for only a short period of time. When you blinked in amazement and looked again, they were gone, just like that.

Holcomb, who had been a little-known backup, took over as the starter in the first half of the 2002 regular-season finale against the Atlanta Falcons at Cleveland when Tom Couch suffered a broken leg. He didn’t do much the rest of the afternoon in a 24-16 victory that helped the Browns gain their first postseason birth in the expansion era.

Instead, he waited until the playoff game six days later to have the performance of his life, and one of the best ever by a Browns quarterback.

He passed for 429 yards and three touchdowns as the Browns, aftet leading 24-7 early in the third quarter, melted down the stretch and lost 36–33.

Holcomb then beat out Couch for the starting job in 2003, but injuries limited his effectiveness and he was never the same either for Cleveland or anyone else for the remainder of his 13-year NFL career.

Anderson’s arrival with the Browns in 2005 caused no stir at all after starting his career with the Baltimore Ravens as a end-of-the-draft selection. His break came when, in the second quarter of a one-sided loss to Pittsburgh in the 2007 opener, he came on in relief for a struggling Charlie Frye and finished out the 34-7 loss.

Despite a mediocre performance, Anderson was named the permanent starter and Frye, a product of Willard (Ohio) High School and the University of Akron, was traded to the Seattle Seahawks the next day. In his first start, against the defending AFC North champion Cincinnati Bengals, Anderson led the Browns to a rollicking 51-45 win and he was off and running.

He threw 29 touchdown passes, the second-most in Browns history, and became the first Cleveland quarterback in 20 years to be selected for the Pro Bowl, as the club finished 10-6 but failed, on tie-breakers, to win the division title or earn a wild-card playoff berth.

However, like Holcomb, Anderson was never the same after his big moment, spending the rest of his 14-year career as a journeyman.

NEXT: The lights of Broadway.

Steve King