Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak Press Conference

Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak

Press Conference – October 30, 2025

San Francisco 49ers

Who’s playing quarterback in New Jersey on Sunday?

“Brock’s getting better I know that which is good. He is doing more this week. He’s taking a few more reps. We’re going to let the week play out and see how it goes.”

I’m sure he is frustrated to some extent, but how is he kind of managing that? What’s that been like?

“Yeah, it’s very frustrating for him. Him and I were talking yesterday, it’s an injury that’s frustrating because it has an unpredictable nature to it about when things are going to flare up and kind of how it’s going to react to things. He has been doing everything he can do. He has been patient, but it is frustrating for him. I know he wants to be out there. I know he’s our quarterback and he’s our leader and he wants to be out on the field with the guys, but he is doing what he needs to do. He’s being patient and he’s getting better and we’re getting him back into practice.”

How is he at putting that frustration kind of aside and being helpful for QB Mac Jones?

“Oh, he is great. It doesn’t affect that at all. Like you would imagine, personally it’s a frustrating situation, but Brock’s, he’s a pro and he’s a leader. He’s helping our guys however he can.”

Obviously, he can’t do all of the physical stuff, but how do you go about just making sure that when he does step on the field, he’s improved since the last time, just from the non-physical standpoint?

“Yeah, I think that’s the goal is just to have complete confidence that you’re going out there and feeling your best. And if you do feel something that it’s something you just you know that you have to kind of deal with. I think that’s the goal with Brock is just getting him comfortable with that. And then if he’s out there, we don’t feel like he’s going to have any restrictions physically. We feel like if he’s playing, he can do what we need him to do.”

How do you keep him sharp mentally with knowing the offense and everything?

“I think he’s naturally going to stay in it. He’s been staying in it the whole time. He hasn’t missed anything from a mental perspective. I think you just need reps again. You need that repetition of getting in the huddle, hearing a call, kind of going through everything you do before the snap going through progressions, you got to go back out there and practice, which he’s been doing. He did that a little more yesterday. As far as the mental stuff, I think it just comes with getting the reps again and just getting in that comfort level that you miss when you’re just not in there.”

WR Jordan Watkins was on the field for the first time and he drops the first one that comes to him, then he makes a little catch later. When you miss as much time as he has, do you have to remind him, ‘Hey, you still almost have a whole college season left, plenty of time left.’ Do you still feel pretty good about his development?

“Yeah, I feel good about it. He got some action on Sunday. I think he would probably tell you he has got to make that play. That was a big third down. But it’s a long way to go. It’s a struggle for all rookies of just kind of being in it for the long haul. He’s up for it. He’s been practicing really well. We’ve been happy with his work, and so I’m not worried about his mindset from that perspective.”

What have you seen from WR Jauan Jennings? Yesterday, head coach Kyle Shanahan mentioned he’s been compromised a little bit so far.

“He’s been battling injuries all year, from training camp. Jauan’s been pushing through it, and he’s been doing it for the team. And he’s been going out there and working through stuff. He is getting better every week. And you can see him starting to heal up and with the ankle, the ribs. I think he’s hopefully getting past that. So, it’s taking time for him to get to be feeling good, which is kind of weird. You’re playing football and trying to get healthy at the same time, which doesn’t always go hand in hand, but he is getting better. He’s healing. And I think every week we kind of see him get back to the form we want him to be in.”

In the scouting evaluation process, what did you think of New York Giants QB Jaxson Dart?

“Oh, I loved him. He was a heck of a player and just a gamer. And you saw a guy who competed and who won a lot of games and he’s just a playmaker at the position. And aside from the natural talent, you just loved how he competed and made plays. So not surprised at all that he is doing well. He is a heck of a player.”

This game against Houston is not what you want, and you seem pretty calm with us here, but what is your personality like on gameday? Have you had a half in your career that went like that? You seem pretty calm, but are you and Kyle swearing at each other on the headsets? What is that vibe like in the first half?

“It’s tough, man. It’s frustrating for everybody. Not just me, not just Kyle, but the players. You’re battling through a tough game where you can’t stay on the field with third downs and their offense goes on a long drive and you’re on the sideline for a long time and you’re just not doing the things you want to do. You try to stay calm and, you know, I think that’s, for me personally, that’s how I work through things is to stay calm and try to figure out solutions, ‘what are we going to do? How are we going to get through this?’ That’s my mindset with everything. But yeah, I’d be lying if I said you’re not dying on the inside a little bit when you’re going through that, but you got to work through it and you got to battle and you got to find ways to help your players. It was cool to see our guys do that at the end of the first half. They made those plays to kind of get us back in the game and to get a spark, but we just didn’t sustain it.”

You saw a good defensive front last week. What do you make of the one that you’re seeing this weekend?

“Another really good front. They have first round picks at every position on the defensive line. Elite rushers, an elite player on the inside in [New York Giants DL] Dexter Lawrence, and just super talented and just another huge challenge.”

When you come out of that game against the Texans, what do you stress and emphasize to the players when you get them back together and start getting ready for the Giants?

“It wasn’t just one thing. You could point in any direction, but when you look at it, to me it came down to we didn’t stay on the field. We weren’t able to help our defense by converting a third down in that first half which would’ve allowed us to run the ball more. We didn’t run the ball enough, but we weren’t on the field enough, so it started with the first half and then the third quarter we come out and we go three-and-out. I think we had a second and three and we had a zero-yard run, and then we get sacked. And so, it was like we didn’t do enough to stay on the field in different areas. Should we have run the ball better? Yeah. But we needed to be better on third down and that’s what it came down to. So, at the end of the day, you got to convert third downs. You got to give yourself chances to make more plays and we just didn’t do it.”

Was the protection plan sound? You had OL Matt Hennessy pulling to block a star defensive end. Did you chip much on Houston Texans DL Will Anderson Jr. against OL Colton McKivitz? When you watched that film again, did you feel like you could have done more to help Colton maybe a little bit?

“I think in hindsight you always wish you could have done more. We did chip some. You mentioned Hennessy pulling, that’s a protection we use a lot. We didn’t execute it very well, to be honest with you with some of our technique. But you mix it up, you mix in the chips, you can’t do it all the time because when [TE] George Kittle’s chipping, he is not on a route. So, you try to mix those things up and it wasn’t good enough in all areas. So yeah, the plan wasn’t good enough, the execution wasn’t good enough, and we got to be better moving forward.”

Kyle has mentioned WR Ricky Pearsall’s recovery is taking longer than you would’ve hoped. How is Ricky dealing with the day-to-day?

“Yeah, I talked to Ricky yesterday, he’s doing good. His mind’s in the right place, but he’s frustrated. I think kind of like Brock, he expected things to go quicker, but you don’t really know. But Ricky’s locked into his rehab. He’s doing everything he can do to push himself to get ready to go. But like you’d imagine, it’s hard for those guys, but he’s handling it the right way and he’ll be ready when he’s fully healed.”