ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF

After an impressive 3-1 start to the season, Argos head coach Jim Barker finally saw his young team’s growing pains play out in front of him Thursday night in Montreal.

The Argos entered Week 5 in a first place tie with the Montreal Alouettes but untimely penalties, dropped passes and stalled drives exposed some of the maturation that still needs to take place on a team that has surprised everyone with a solid start to the 2010 campaign.

“Guys are going to make mistakes and you have to be able to bounce back,” Barker told The Canadian Press following the game.

The mistakes that Barker alludes to have been uncharacteristic for the most part from the 2010 Boatmen, primarily in the penalty department.  The least penalized team heading into Thursday (25 for 165 yards), the Argos fell 35 yards short of matching their entire season total against the Als, taking 13 penalties for 130 yards. 

One of those penalties proved most costly when the Argos held the lead but kept a Montreal drive alive by taking a contacting the kicker call. The Als would get new life on the drive and eventually make their way into the endzone.

''It seemed to take the wind out of our sails and that hasn't happened this year,'' Barker said. ''We have to learn from that.”

The reality is that despite the positive start, this team is still in the process of finding its identity. Obstacles, such as Thursday night’s performance, are by no means encouraged but bound to happen.  The other reality is that the Montreal Alouettes give little margin for error and once you have them in a seemingly controlled state, you must continue execute or they will burn you.

''I thought that drive where we answered and kept the ball most of the first quarter was how you have to play Montreal,” Barker continued. “You have to keep Anthony off the field and we didn't do that.''

Barker alluded to the fact that all one can do is bounce back after a humbling loss such as Thursday’s. That’s what the Argos will look to do next week in Edmonton before returning home for a rematch with the Alouettes at Rogers Centre.

-    With files from The Canadian Press