Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak Press Conference

Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak

Press Conference – December 11, 2025

San Francisco 49ers

WR Ricky Pearsall has five receptions for 20 yards in three games. Is that more on him or is it on you guys and how you’re going to him? What’s going on there? He’s not producing very much.

“It’s circumstantial. I think every game’s different. I think you go back, the Arizona game, I think was his first game back and we targeted him a lot and there was coverages that dictated where the ball went. I think Carolina, we did target him a handful of times and [QB] Brock [Purdy] missed a few throws on a couple and we got into a situation where we were trying to run the ball in the fourth quarter. Then the Cleveland game, there weren’t many ops and he did take advantage of some of his ops in that game where he beat man-coverage a few times and he made some big plays. So it’s situational. Ricky’s not doing a thing wrong. He’s practicing his butt off, he’s competing, he looks good. And that’s football sometimes. That’s the life of a receiver. Sometimes the ball comes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. And just keep your head down, keep playing and good things tend to happen. So that’s the plan.”

Has anything jumped out at you just looking back at QB Brock Purdy’s couple games since he’s been back?

“I thought the Cleveland game was awesome. I mean for him to bounce back from Carolina where he just missed some throws in that game, whether it was timing or just missed something and ended up throwing three picks. But then you bounce back against Cleveland in a really challenging environment against a really good defense that was going to play man and he was going to have to make throws and stay in the pocket. And he did. And he did what he needed to do to win. So I was super proud of Brock. Every game’s been different. Every defense has presented different challenges and I’m just proud of how he played against Cleveland. I think he’s playing with confidence now coming off the week, coming off the Bye week. So expect him to keep playing well.”

He threw away the ball seven times in that game as opposed to seven times the whole season previous. Was that something you emphasized to make sure he didn’t put the ball in danger?

“Yeah, I think one thing we really emphasized in that game was we can’t hold the ball against that pass rush. If you’re gonna sit there and take a couple hitches, the ball’s got to go or you got to run or you got to get the ball out of your hands because those guys, that pocket was collapsing. We knew the challenge, so it was a point of emphasis for sure. We just didn’t want him holding the ball and a turnover to cost us in that game.”

Most of Brock’s interceptions this season have come when he’s holding the ball longer. How much of a point of emphasis it to just be decisive?

“It’s always the emphasis. We want every play to be decisive as we can, but Brock’s made a living on holding the ball and making plays too and you don’t wanna take away that skill of his. I’d have to go through and look at all the interceptions and tell you why, but I think some of it’s just missing the throws. Some of it’s not the best play design. That happened earlier in the year against Seattle where we put him in a position that wasn’t a great call, but you got to balance those two things. You want him to be decisive as he can be, but you also want him to be the playmaker he tends to be when he can get outside the pocket and hold the ball. So just constantly weighing those things and balancing it out.”

He’s had a larger percentage of his interceptions on first downs. What’s the sort of risk/reward balance on first down of maybe taking chances as opposed to you later?

“I mean you want to be aggressive. Those are situations – I mean, first down, you get an earned first down, you want to stay aggressive, you want to get explosives. That’s where that happens in football games, usually. You’re taking advantage of the defense not knowing what you’re doing. Are they running it? Are we play action? Those are situations we like to be aggressive. Again, that’s football sometimes. You miss a throw, sometimes they make a play but you got to turn the page. Brock keeps his mindset, which I’m going to stay aggressive. And he’s made those plays more often than not. So we’re not going to take that away from him.”

Do you or your staff use Pro Football Focus data/numbers for pre-scouting teams, things like that?

“I know we’ve used it. I couldn’t tell you specifically. In my world right now, I get numbers sometimes from our analytics department. We look at numbers and can’t always tell you where they come from, but I know we do use that and especially in the offseason too.”