EAST RUTHERFORD — He wasn't giving any clues to his future at the front of the press conference room. Tom Coughlin was his usual combative self with the media after the Giants lost their season finale to the Eagles, insisting from the start that he wouldn't answer any questions about what might happen next and then cutting off any reporter's attempt to go there.
But at the back of that room?
That was different. That was telling. That was when Coughlin's gruff persona melted away a few minutes later as his 11 grandchildren wrapped themselves around his legs and thwarted their parents' desperate attempts to shush them as quarterback Eli Manning began his media session.