Johnny Manziel Deserved to Be Taken out of Game by Texas A&M

Johnny Manziel made sure to stick it to all of his critics in the offseason by looking like the defending Heisman winner that he is in the second half of Texas A&M's 52-31 victory over Rice on Saturday.

Unfortunately, he refused to simply let his play do the talking, eventually getting flagged for a 15-yard, unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty and consequently getting benched by head coach Kevin Sumlin.

Congratulations, Johnny, you've added more fuel to the fire.

It all started when Manziel earned a first down on an eight-yard run. To celebrate, he made sure to mock the NCAA by pretending like he was writing his signature.

Then, Manziel made the "show me the money" signal with his fingers after tossing his first touchdown pass.

Then, after his third touchdown pass of the game, he proceeded to talk trash to the Rice defense, before officials flagged him.

Sumlin told a sideline reporter after the game, per Daniel Uthman of USA Today Sports, "I hoped that at this point he'd have learned something. That's why he wasn't going back in the game, no matter what happened." 

Manziel went 6-of-8 for 94 yards and three touchdowns in the second half against Rice. He also added 19 rushing yards. 

But, instead of being universally praised for his play on the field, he only backs up critics' claims that he is egotistical, brash and petulant. 

By the way, I'm getting tired of Manziel's supporters using the excuse that he's only 20 years old and he needs time to mature. There are plenty of 20-year-olds—heck, high schools students—who don't resort to acting like this.

Manziel is allowed to celebrate, of course. I'm not saying he shouldn't do that. But celebrating by mocking others—including the NCAA—is not the way to go. He's supposed to be the leader of Texas A&M. Is this really the way a leader acts?

Also, once you start getting flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and hurting your team, you have gone too far.

What was Manziel attempting to accomplish by talking trash to Rice? Rice went 7-6 while playing in the C-USA last season. Somehow, Manziel succeeding against the Owls doesn't seem like something worth boasting about.

Manziel confirmed two things we already knew about him on Saturday: He's a very good football player, and he has a lot of work to do when it comes to how to conduct himself. He's not doing himself any favors by lashing out at the world.