Argos go into East final without security blanket Chad Kackert

Toronto Argonauts head coach Scott Milanovich feels pretty good about his team heading into next Sunday's CFL East final. But he'd feel a lot better if he had star running back Chad Kackert in his lineup.

Milanovich announced Sunday that Kackert, who injured his ankle in practice earlier in the week, will not play against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats when the bitter rivals square off at the Rogers Centre.``Chad's not going to be available for this game," Milanovich said, adding that he didn't know how long Kackert will be out.

That means either Jerious Norwood or Curtis Steele will start in a game that marks the first East final between the Ontario rivals since 1986. While both performed well during Kackert's previous absences, the Argos are definitely a better team with last year's Grey Cup MVP in the lineup.

Despite an injury-filled season, Kackert was Toronto's leading rusher this season with 480 yards and a 6.8-yard average. He also had 23 catches for 184 yards and provided solid pass blocking.

Regardless, Milanovich likes his team's mental approach heading into the final.

``Last year, the whole year we were trying to convince our team we were good enough to win a championship and we were trying to build up to that," he said. ``I don't think that's the issue this year ...

``They believe they can and should. That's where you want your team. I don't believe we have anybody who's overconfident. It's a confident team that wants to win and expects to win."

In order to win, the defending Grey Cup champs will have to find a way to stop Hamilton quarterback Henry Burris, who had two of his best games of the year in wins over Toronto. The key to doing that is to stop Hamilton's running game and make Burris one-dimensional, Milanovich said.

But he conceded that won't be easy.

``Henry's probably a Hall of Fame quarterback and he's a champion, so I don't know if you're going to completely shut him down," he said. ``I think you saw that (Sunday in Guelph)."

Hamilton's habit of flip-flopping Burris and rookie Dan LeFevour, which was one of the keys to the Ticat win in Sunday's semifinal, presents a lot of problems for the Argos.

``It puts a lot of your defence," Milanovich said. ``You have to essentially prepare for two different styles of offences. How much they'll do that against us we won't know until game time but you have to prepare for it. I have no doubts we'll be prepared."