With a week still to go before the Japan X Bowl, the players have yet to pick up their helmets and pads and the coaches have yet to put on their headsets. But it appears the mental game has already kicked off.
While Panasonic Denko Impulse manager Hirokazu Murakami gave timid remarks, Obic Seagulls head coach Makoto Ohashi tried not to be deceived by that at a Tokyo news conference on Monday.
"It feels good to have been able to advance to our first final game in two years," Murakami said. "But toward the end of the regular season, we tended to give up leads to opponents, and I never had a team that allows so many points like this. So we probably had some luck getting here."