Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak Press Conference

Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak

Press Conference – November 21, 2025

San Francisco 49ers

You guys have run it better it seems like the last six weeks, maybe since the Tampa game. Is it just simply the return of TE George Kittle? Is it the health of OL Dominick Puni? Is it the fact you guys are running a little bit more gap, a little less zone?

“It’s a lot of things. It’s not one thing. It’s continuity with the guys who’ve been back, we’ve had Kittle back, we’ve had some more consistency at guard the past couple weeks. We’ve gotten better. I think as the year has gone on, through practice, we’ve gotten better at running the ball more consistently. The way some of the games have gone, we’ve been able to commit to it a little bit more like the Giants game, this last game. So, it’s a lot of things. It doesn’t mean by any means it’s perfect, but we’ve got to keep going and look at it week-by-week and continue to try to improve in the run game because If we can run the ball and stay on the field, we’re going to have some success as an offense.”

You’ve been converting more plays in the red zone into touchdowns. Can you just take us a little bit into when head coach Kyle Shanahan’s calling plays or how you guys are dialing up these plays in the red zone, whether there’s a little bit more enthusiasm this year than there was maybe last year when things weren’t going as well?

“I wouldn’t say that. I think it’s guys have executed pretty well down there these past couple weeks. We’ve made some plays. I think Brock made a really good throw last week in the red zone. We’ve been running the ball a little bit better down there. It’s never one thing. It’s not like our plays are better or that we’ve come up with better plays. I think it’s just we’ve caught some of the coverages that we scouted a little bit. There’s times when you get down there and you catch a coverage, like, man, we didn’t expect that. And the play you have just wasn’t the right play and you hope someone makes a play, but it doesn’t work out. We’ve gotten fortunate in that regard, thinking about last game especially. So, it’s just guys being on it, quarterback executing, running the ball a little bit better. All those things add up to me to red zone success. So, I think that’s what it is.”

Are you happy with the shared arrangement at guard between OL Spencer Burford and OL Ben Bartch? How is that working out?

“I think it’s been working and we kind of take it week-by-week, kind of see where they’re at in practice. I think the way the games have gone, the guys have benefited from being in there, getting in a rhythm and then getting to come out for a little bit and just kind of see the game a little bit differently. Take a break, let the other guy go in and play, that can help guys sometimes. That can help guys, whatever it is mentally, it can help a guy play better, more consistently if he knows, ‘Hey, I’ve got a guy coming in and I can kind of take a breather.’ But, it also depends on the game. I think back to some games where we didn’t get into a rhythm and we just kept guys out there. And so, if we’re playing good and we’re running the ball, I think hopefully we have that consistency with rotating those guys. But, we’ll just kind of see how each week goes.”

Do they know before the game, like alright, you’re going to go the first four series then you’re going the next four? Or is it just like, you start the one guy and then tell the other guy to stay ready?

“Yeah. We don’t predetermine how many drives or whatever, but we give them an idea like, ‘Hey, just be ready in a couple series.’ You never know when it’s going to change, but he’s ready for it.”

How hard is it to keep everyone involved in the offense when you have a few players who deserve so many touches?

“I mean, it’s a good problem to have. It’s tough. I mean, you want to get everyone involved. But, it’s a good problem to have. You design plays where you think everyone’s got a chance to touch the ball and let the coverage dictate kind of where it goes, but we’re fortunate to have that problem. I wouldn’t say I’m complaining about it, but you want to keep guys motivated, you want to keep guys in it because they think the ball’s coming their way. But, our guys do a great job of playing unselfish too. They don’t really care where the ball goes. They run their routes, they play each play and they know that the ball’s going to be distributed based on the coverages we get.”

When you get to Week 12, do you want to meet more with your quality control coaches and your helpers to make sure that you know what your tendencies are when you’re putting together your game plan?

“Absolutely. We kind of do that every week. We kind of look at, our scouting department does a good job of giving us a report of kind of what we’re presenting to the defense and what kind of shows up as tendencies. We kind of do it on our own too. We pay attention to it. We try to offset things every week. We’ve done this on tape last week, let’s try to offset it and try to show something different. So, you’ve always kind of got to have your eye on that.”