Yeah he was between a rock and a hard place. Anything he says negative would likely be carried by every news program, website, and magazine going and could have an impact on Sony stock. On the other hand he's lost almost all credibility and maybe it would have been better to take the high road and say "Yes we've stumbled but we're cutting cost and we're working hard to make the PS3 a success.".
Just like in Microsoft's case with the Xbox 360 problems, in the end things are going to catch up to you so it's better to just tell people the truth, tell them exactly what you're going to do to fix the problem, and then do it so that you're on your way to gaining back people's trust or not losing it in the first place if they were just honest to begin with.
