BEREA, Ohio -- Later this week, Cleveland Browns quarterback Kelly Holcomb and wife Lorie will welcome the arrival of their third child.

So maybe it's just serendipitous that the Caesarian section birth, arranged several weeks ago, is set for Thursday morning. And then again, maybe not.

	Kelly Holcomb threw for 790 yards and eight TDs in just five games (two starts) last season.

Even given the heated competition for the starting quarterback position, a fierce dogfight that may not be resolved for three more weeks, Holcomb would never put the battle ahead of his family. But it seems more than coincidental that Thursday is when Browns coaches have scheduled just a short special teams workout, since the club departs for Nashville in the afternoon, where it plays a weekend preseason game against the Tennessee Titans.

The last time we checked, Holcomb wasn't intimately involved in the kicking or the return games, so he probably won't miss any snaps as he attempts to supplant incumbent Tim Couch at the top of the depth chart. That's good because, as Holcomb acknowledged, every snap and every pass, virtually every movement, is being heavily scrutinized in a competition that draws near-daily headlines in the local newspapers here and which, on Saturday, was the lead story overall on one early evening newscast.

In what appears to be a horserace that is nose-to-nose as it enters the stretch, and where an otherwise meaningless scrimmage against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday afternoon drew a remarkable crowd of nearly 38,000 fans to Cleveland Browns Stadium to witness the first live rounds being fired in the duel, even a brief absence represents an opportunity missed.

"(The coaches) are watching you all of the time," Holcomb allowed. "I mean, that's what coaches do, right?"

Indeed, the analysis of the Cleveland quarterback derby, in which virtually every move is dissected and every pass scrupulously charted and then reviewed both mentally as well as on videotape, has preoccupied the Browns' coaching staff for most of the offseason. And why not, given the ramifications of this contest between players of disparate backgrounds, and for a young team with aspirations of advancing beyond last season's wild-card berth?

There are three other quarterback debates being waged on training camp practice fields around the league. None of those tete-a-tetes, however, include teams that went to the playoffs in 2002. Certainly none features a quarterback who was the first overall player chosen in a draft, and who is trying to hold off the challenge of a career journeyman, a guy with just three regular-season starts on his résumé.

But ever since Holcomb threw for 429 yards and three touchdowns in a playoff defeat at Pittsburgh on Jan. 7, a game in which Cleveland squandered a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter, the debate has raged. Coach Butch Davis even acknowledged that had his team beaten the Steelers, and then won a second-round contest, Holcomb might have claimed the starting job outright.

As it is, Couch, who was sidelined for the playoff game with a fibula injury, no longer has a leg up in the competition. In bars on Friday night, and even outside one Catholic church following Saturday evening mass, a few hours after Holcomb had outplayed Couch in the scrimmage with the Bills, the local quarterback showdown was a most discussed topic.

Only a year ago, when the roles of the two combatants was well-defined, Holcomb barely existed in the consciousness of even the most rabid Browns supporters. Now the competition represents both bark and biting comments from denizens of the Dawg Pound.

"It really is compelling (stuff)," said longtime fan Rob Dvorchek, who drove up for the scrimmage from nearby Youngstown, as he walked back to his downtown hotel following the controlled action with the Bills. "I mean, you've got people pulling for the underdog, and others who feel like Couch still deserves to start. You wake up reading about it in the paper. Then you go to bed hearing it on the 11 o'clock news. Around here, yeah, you're damned straight, it's a big freakin' deal. You really wonder, in coaches' minds, who has the edge, you know?"

At least in terms of practice snaps, there is no advantage, real or imagined.

A reporter asked Holcomb on Friday if he had, in a brief concession to human nature, ever kept a mental inventory and perhaps chafed because Couch had perhaps taken one or two more plays with the first team. Holcomb noted that he didn't have to, since the snaps had been exactly even throughout the spring and now training camp, and Davis allowed he is conscious of maintaining a totally unleavened playing field.

Even last year, Davis noted, the snaps were distributed relatively evenly. From the spring through the preseason practices of 2002, Davis said, Couch got only about 20 more snaps of the 1,000-plus plays parceled out. But comparing the plays from 2002 to those that are being run in practices now is like debating apples and oranges. A year ago, Couch was well-entrenched, the unchallenged leader of the franchise's second incarnation. Holcomb was simply preparing in 2002 to be a viable backup. Now he's trying to usurp the throne.

It is such a riveting competition that even opposing players have been outspoken in their opinions. Buffalo middle linebacker London Fletcher noted after Saturday's scrimmage that he felt Holcomb had performed better. A few feet down the hall, Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who was involved in a similar battle of his own just a couple years ago, pointed out that Couch had worked against Buffalo's top defense while Holcomb got his shot versus the backups.

"I thought," said Bledsoe, "that it was a little bit unfair to Tim, to tell you the truth."

A fair survey of the Cleveland locker room, where several veterans spoke off the record about the quarterback situation, would be that the players seem to favor Holcomb by a fairly healthy margin. The fans distinctly favored Holcomb during the scrimmage, and at one point chanted "Kelly, Kelly," as he lasered a few completions in a row.

But it is Davis, and not his minions or the orange-clad Browns patrons, who will make the ultimate call, no later than the third preseason game on Aug. 23, and the perception is that the head coach is leaning in Couch's direction.

	“	There are a lot of things to consider. Selfishly, it's obvious how I want it to come out. But the bottom line is, they have to do what's best for the team, and I have to live with that. No matter what their decision.”
		—Tim Couch, on the team's QB competition

In the scrimmage, Couch completed eight of 13 passes, fumbled the center exchange on the third play of the opening series, and took two sacks. Holcomb hit 12 of 16 attempts for 164 yards and two touchdowns, while absorbing a pair of sacks. Afterwards, Davis offered unsolicited that Couch threw the ball with more velocity than he had in the 2½ years under the current staff. Notable was that Davis has repeatedly insisted over those 2½ years that there was nothing the matter with Couch's arm strength.

It was obvious last Friday, though, that the strength of both quarterbacks is beginning to wane under the intense pressure of their toe-to-toe slugfest. The nerves of both seemed to be more frayed, local media assessed, than at any previous time. Couch acknowledged that he just "want(ed) to get this whole thing over with," and Holcomb used the term "monotonous" to describe it.

The smart money suggests, though, that Davis will not make a hasty decision. Even if offensive coordinator Bruce Arians contended the Browns "won't go wrong" no matter who wins the job, there remains a palpable tension around the team's resplendent Taj Mahal of a football complex here. And Couch allowed that, his personal angst aside, he can understand the ruminating that is going on in coach's meetings and video reviews.

"There are a lot of things to consider," said Couch, a quarterback golden boy most of his life, and a guy who has never before really been a backup. "Selfishly, it's obvious how I want it to come out. But the bottom line is, they have to do what's best for the team, and I have to live with that. No matter what their decision."

It is, of course, a multi-faceted conundrum that Davis and Arians and the other coaches face. Couch has been the face of the franchise, in a sense, since the then-expansion team chose him with the first overall pick in the 1999 draft. Holcomb, who served as the caddy for Peyton Manning in Indianapolis before signing here in 2001, has actually worked one year longer than Couch in Arians' offensive design. Waived five times during a career that began as an undrafted free agent, Holcomb might be a little hungrier, and might have more pure arm strength. Couch has worked hard at his craft, been a true professional at some trying times, and never played with the kind of diverse and explosive weaponry the Browns have now assembled.

Cleveland has invested millions in Couch and last year picked up a $6 million option trigger in his contract. Holcomb has yet to crack the $1 million mark in base salary.

Noted one veteran player as we went back and forth over these respective strengths and weaknesses: "You see, it's like tit and tat, OK? One guy has this, the other has that, and I'm sure that's how the coaches are viewing it, too. But at some point, sooner or later, they have to stand up and announce to the world, 'All right, this is the guy.' And most of us in the locker room feel it has to be sooner. I mean, we want to know, right?

"I don't think (the decision) is going to fracture the team. They make it, we move on, and play hard for whoever is the starter. But the uncertainty is getting to all of us."

Thankfully, for Couch and Holcomb, the competition has not affected their relationship. The two are close friends, work well together, support one another. There is a reality now, too, in which each is cognizant of the fact that the other may soon need even more support. One is headed for fanfare and, their protestations aside, the other into a funk.

"You just try to stay patient," Couch said, "and not get too frustrated. But, sure, I mean, you definitely want to know your role on the team. Everyone wants to know."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.