HOUSTON -- Texans coach Bill O'Brien opened his news conference by saying he wouldn't be making the announcement we awaited.

In the interest of a competitive advantage, O'Brien will not be telling us who his starting quarterback will be this weekend. One reporter asked O'Brien how the team handled not knowing, and O'Brien replied that the team has a pretty good idea. They're installing the game plan now.

He did say Andre Johnson practiced Wednesday and caught passes from both quarterbacks Thad Lewis and Case Keenum.

"Both these guys, Case and Thad, are out there working hard," O'Brien said. "Right up until game time, that's going to be the way it is. Those decisions are decisions that have to be made. ... If you guys can, just move to the next subject, because you're not going to find out who the starting quarterback is."

O'Brien has gotten a better idea of where Keenum is since signing him off the Rams' practice squad on Monday. Keenum spent all season in St. Louis, partly on the active roster and partly on the practice squad.

As I began to ask about Keenum's improvement from the way he took sacks last season, O'Brien jumped in saying he wasn't interested in last year. After some prodding he offered this:

"He's a much better quarterback in my opinion than he was last year. He's definitely improved. He's improved in all areas as a quarterback. Understanding your scheme, understanding your system. Again it's in the past. I don't really care about what happened last year with Case, I really don't. It's all about what he's doing right now that he's here and how we can get him to understand our game plan against Baltimore."

He was much more at ease answering a question requesting his thoughts on both quarterbacks.

"Let's start with Thad," O'Brien said. "The thing I like about Thad, I've known him since he was 17 years old. He's got really good poise. He's got a good, quick release. He's a smart guy. He's a guy that I noticed right away when I worked with him as a college freshman, nothing was too big for him. He could go in there as a freshman and play Florida State, play Miami. That's the one thing that stood out to me. With Keenum, the one thing that stands out to me about Case is he's a very bright guy, he's a hard working guy. They're both hard working guys. I think Case has really good recollection. Here's a guy that hasn't really been here in four months. Comes right back into the fold yesterday and has a good recall of what we were doing back when he was here."