Bob Kravitz Regrets Calling For Bill Belichick's Firing, Sells Out Chris Mortensen

Bob Kravitz was the reporter who broke the Deflategate story, and for months, he sent out hot takes via Twitter that included his thoughts on the New England Patriots, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and how the NFL should punish them.

Looking back on the entire saga with a column on Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of the day Deflategate was birthed, Kravitz admitted he regrets some of those tweets, including one where he called for Belichick to be fired.

Kravitz also wrote that he wouldn’t discuss mistakes made by other reporters, then sold out ESPN’s Chris Mortensen for his PSI story that contained incorrect information.

“That said, there were mistakes,” Kravitz wrote. “I’m not going to address others’ mistakes because that’s none of my concern here, and they’ve been dutifully (cataloged) by the people of New England. But I should not have called for Bill Belichick’s head after Chris Mortensen’s “11 of 12 balls were 2 psi low” story, a story where it turned out that Mort’s sources gave him inaccurate information.

“There were a few other tweets, most of them inspired by Mort’s story, that I wish I could have back, like a pitcher who throws a hanging curve that ends up 50 rows deep.

Kravitz later wrote: “But even after 33 years in the business, you learn, and often, you learn from your mistakes. I was quick on the trigger, too far out over my skis, convinced that Mortensen, who is right 99 percent of the time, got it right. He did not. I did not. It happens, and when it happens, you hear about it for 365 days or many more.”

Kravitz acted like a troll at various times throughout this Deflategate ordeal, but he does deserve some credit here for saying he’d do some things differently with the information we now know. It would be nice if others did the same, but don’t hold your breath.

As for the Patriots, the issue of Deflategate hasn’t had a negative impact on their performance. New England travels to Denver this week for an AFC Championship Game showdown with Peyton Manning and the Broncos.

For what it’s worth, Kravitz is rooting for Manning. Shocker.