It took more than a year, but ESPN is taking responsibility for some of its role in the Deflategate mess.

ESPN.com public editor Jim Brady on Wednesday published a story with the headline "On Deflategate, ESPN Air-Balls On Transparency," a critical self-review of the company's coverage of the ongoing saga surrounding the New England Patriots and accusations the club knowingly deflated footballs ahead of the 2015 AFC Championship Game.

In many ways, Deflategate and the saga that followed was started with a Jan. 21, 2015, story on ESPN.com from veteran NFL reporter Chris Mortensen. The original story stated that 11 of 12 footballs used by the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game were underinflated by 2 pounds per square inch.

"This bombshell turned an intriguing AFC title game sidebar into something that led all three national television newscasts by the next evening," Brady wrote Wednesday.

"Quickly, however, one issue arose: The detail about 11 of the 12 balls being underinflated by 2 psi was not accurate, which was known relatively soon after the publication of the initial story."

While the reported allegations were eventually called into question and debunked by science and additional reporting, it was the infamous "11 of 12" report that gave the Patriots a bad look from the beginning. Despite evidence contrary to Mortensen's reporting, the Patriots were already presumed guilty by many in the court of public opinion.

Even as the report was questioned, ESPN and Mortensen didn't do a whole lot to clarify what was originally reported. Mortensen didn't even delete the tweet until August.

ESPN.com didn't do much with the story -- until Thursday.

"I have been pushing for some clarity on this question for weeks, and it led to some action within ESPN," Brady wrote Thursday. "As this column was being published, ESPN added a formal clarification to the original Mortensen story."

Sure enough, the following clarification now appears on the ESPN.com story originally published in January.

CLARIFICATION: A Jan. 21, 2015, story on ESPN.com reported, citing sources, that 11 of 12 footballs were underinflated by 2 pounds per square inch during the New England Patriots' win over the Indianapolis Colts. Additional reporting clarified that 11 of the 12 balls were significantly underinflated, ranging up to 2 pounds per square inch.

ESPN vice president of global digital content Patrick Stiegman explained why it took so long for the clarification to come.

"Typically, we wouldn't revise a story more than 6 months old in our archives, but after Mort clarified his reporting and removed the tweet, for transparency reasons, we should have updated our online version," Stiegman said, per the ESPN.com story. "We did thoroughly cover the deflation issue, including Seth (Wickersham) and Don (Van Natta's) in-depth reporting, Mort's on-air reports, and subsequent coverage of the Wells report -- and its detractors. But given the attention to the story, could the clarification have come sooner? Certainly."

The story comes on the day that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will be back in court for an appeal hearing, as the NFL appeals U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman's decision to vacate the quarterback's four-game suspension stemming from his alleged role in Deflategate.

Click to read the full ESPN.com story on Deflategate >>