Gio Bernard hasn't played much this season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On the season, he has only played in five games due to an ankle injury, and has a grand total of one rushing attempt. However, the 31-year old running back found himself in the center of controversy after he was responsible for butchering a fake punt play that proved crucial in the Buccaneers' 34-23 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

After the game, reporters pestered a clearly frustrated Gio Bernard, who, of course, was justified in feeling the way he did given the part he played in the loss. It took a bit of convincing, but Bernard, who was scoffing at reporters, finally acquiesced and answered to the reporters' repeated prodding. Still, the entire situation seemed to be one that reeked of a breach of one's personal boundaries, leading to backlash against the reporters responsible for the unrelenting pursuit.

Thus, one of those reporters, ESPN's Jenna Laine, revealed in a comprehensive tweet that she had already apologized to Bernard, and that she is sorry for how everything transpired. She apologized for how Bernard ended up looking like in the initial interview video she posted a few days ago.

“I apologized to Giovani Bernard first, personally telling him I am SORRY, which I did,” Laine wrote. “[The video] captured him in a vulnerable moment, the optics of it are all wrong and it didn't tell the whole story. […] I was too caught up in trying to get the full story and meeting deadlines and in my own “stuff”. I didn't take into consideration what HE needed from me in that moment. So clearly I have some growing to do.”

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You can read Jenna Laine's full statement below.

And perhaps that should be the end of that issue. Gio Bernard can now focus on what truly matters: helping out the Buccaneers make the postseason and even mount a deep playoff run.