Critics have been calling for Bob Costas to be fired since his controversial comments on gun control during a football game Sunday night and during a wide-ranging interview for The Dan Patrick Show, Costas came near an apology, calling his comments a “mistake” and lamenting the lack of time for making his remarks more clear.

Referring to a column by Fox Sports writer Jason Whitlock, Costas originally said, “if Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins [Belcher's girlfriend] would both be alive today.”

He first told Patrick that the feedback he had received had been “tremendously positive,” but that there had also been “considerable backlash,” and attributed some of it to “the gun lobby.” He explained to Patrick that the reason the situation had even taken place was because he had been told he’d receive “about a minute and fifteen seconds” to address the Belcher tragedy, and that he felt the best way to “come at” the situation from a different angle was to try to point out issues that hadn’t been addressed.