12/12 — Let's not let facts stand in the way of good stories.

Jets head coach Eric Mangini was asked at today's news conference about articles that appeared in several New York media outlets today stating that, according to NFL sources, a Jets employee was "caught" videotaping from the end zone stands at Gillette Stadium last season, that the Jets "claim" they received approval from the Patriots and "admitted" they videotaped the game.

Good buzzwords, good headline words. But not exactly accurate in describing what actually happened.

"We taped the game is what we taped," Mangini said today in response to a question about the stories. "And we taped an end-zone copy of the game. We tape a double-end-zone, which is standard operating procedure for us. We request that every single road game, and it's usually granted if physically it's possible."

Why would the Jets, or any other team, make such requests?

"Anytime you practice, you try to shoot the unit from the sideline and then from the end zone behind them so that you can see ... hand placement, fits, that type of thing. That's how you watch practice every day, that's how you evaluate practice every day. And it's the same thing with games. You like to have that same copy, because really, that's just an extension of the evaluation."

So the Jets did nothing wrong?

"We do it every time we go on the road," the coach said. "We ask for permission to do it. It's within the league rules, and when people ask us to do it, we grant it as well."

In fact, Mangini responded to a later question, he didn't have exact numbers on how many opponents have asked to tape from both end zones during Jets games at the Meadowlands the last two seasons but "I can tell you that anybody that's asked has been granted permission. ... It's a pretty common courtesy."

As an aside, major college programs such as Tennessee, Clemson and Texas A&M offer the same courtesy to scouts who are evaluating their players during games.

Then why did the Patriots confront this Jets employee and remove him from his Gillette end zone mezzanine position?

Mangini said he didn't know. "It just was what it was," he said. "We had asked permission, it was granted, and then that changed and we respect their decision. It's their stadium."

The Jets coach confirmed this incident happened at last season's playoff game, not at the regular-season game. He said the Jets were granted permission to tape from both end zones for Game 9 and did so without incident.

Newsday said an NFL source told the Long Island newspaper that the Patriots did not bring this incident up to the league during its investigation into the Jets' charges of illegal videotaping by the Patriots at this season's opener in September.

Two further clarifications on the reporting. When Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum replied to a Foxsports.com question on this matter, "Absolutely no truth to that whatsoever. Completely false," he was responding to the question: Was a Jets employee removed from Gillette Stadium last year for the same reason a Patriots employee was removed from the Meadowlands sidelines in this season's opener?

And Bruce Speight, the Jets' senior director of media relations, was quoted saying, "All filming at last year's Patriots game was done with pre-approval from the Patriots and in accordance with NFL rules." His response was to the question: Was a member of your video staff caught taping by the New England Patriots and asked to stop?

You can take your sides on this issue as with all off-field issues surrounding the Jets and Patriots these days. But doesn't this information help provide a clearer picture of what might have occurred back in January in the Massachusetts countryside?

The upshot to this latest video episode is that the Jets have not requested double-end-zone videotaping privileges at Sunday's game.

"We just didn't look to get permission," Mangini said. "Didn 't think it would be granted."

Sunday's Weather: Snow Big Deal

As a public and fan service, I'll provide you the latest Sunday forecast for Foxboro, Mass., from weather.com in each blog this week. As of today at 3 p.m., Sunday's forecast is for snow (70 percent chance of precipitation), wind and temperatures in the mid-30s.