Houston Texans coach Bill O'Brien said Tom Savage is the backup quarterback behind starter Brock Osweiler.

Savage was a fourth-round pick by the Texans in 2014, and is the quarterback with the most experience working in O'Brien's offense.

"I would say right now it’s Tom Savage, I think he’s Nno. 2 right now," O'Brien said. "But that’s not to say that (Brandon) Weeden hasn’t done a good job. I think Weeden has really improved. Tom has been in our system for three years, Weeden’s only been in it for about eight months or close to a year.

"Tom’s a little bit ahead in that regard, but both guys, what stands out to me about both guys as backup players is that they really throw the ball very, very well. They spin the ball very nicely."

Weeden signed a two-year deal with the Texans in April after he won two key games at the end of last season to help Houston win the AFC South.

Savage took over for Osweiler in the second quarter of Sunday's preseason opener against the 49ers. He finished 14 for 24 for 168 yards and two touchdowns. Weeden played the last two series in the game, but did not complete a pass.

O'Brien said this week that he has been really impressed with Savage since the Texans first worked him out more than two years ago.

"We had a good first meeting with him," O'Brien said. "We watched tape with him. His last year at Pitt, he battled really hard, took a lot of hits, he was able to hang in there and deliver the ball, we felt like he could really talk about his offense at Pitt, he was able to articulate it to us what he was doing, what the assignments were and things like that.

"He’s really worked hard. Last year, when he was injured, he was in every meeting taking a bunch of notes, doing everything that he was able to do under the rules of being on IR to be prepared for this season, so it was good to see him go out there and have a good run [on Sunday]."