Dolphins’ Xavien Howard disrespects Patriots with Marshawn Lynch celebration

Strange things tend to happen when the New England Patriots head down to Miami to face the Dolphins.

Seeding doesn’t matter. The time of year definitely doesn’t matter. The weather has no effect — it’s balmy from September through December, and there should be no surprises.

Somehow, though, something bizarre always happens during this rivalry matchup at Hard Rock Stadium, no matter how venerated the Patriots are or how out-of-it Miami’s squad happens to be.

In the first quarter on Sunday, Brian Flores’ bunch reared their ugly heads yet again — and we do mean ugly.

Already up 7-0 after a methodical Tua Tagovailoa drive, the Dolphins defense faced a 3rd & 2 from Mac Jones, who telegraphed his pass so spectacularly that he might as well have handed over the play sheet.

Xavien Howard picked it off and scampered effortlessly into the end zone, with very little resistance between him and the barrier. That gave Howard plenty of time to concoct his celebration, and he went with Marshawn Lynch’s famous backwards dive toward the end zone, capped by a grab of the, uh, nether regions.

In other words, Howard’s touchdown served as an alternate reality, a vision of what the endoing of Super Bowl XLIX could’ve looked like if Pete Carroll’s brain hadn’t leaked out of his ear as time expired.

Dolphins DB Xavien Howard disrespected the Patriots with his Marshawn Lynch TD celebration.

To add insult to injury, Howard dealt an early blow to the Patriots’ AFC East chances with this exclamation point.

If any Pats defenders happened to catch the scoreboard out of the corner of their eyes during Howard’s disrespectful plunge, they would’ve noticed that the Buffalo Bills had pulled ahead of the New York Jets, too, further damaging their long odds at recapturing divisional supremacy.

All in all, Bill Belichick just has to hope to get out of this undermanned rivalry game alive — he’s missing Dont’a Hightower, Kyle Dugger, Myles Bryant and plenty of his defensive depth.

The Patriots know they’re in the playoffs. There’s almost zero chance the Dolphins will be. Let them have their inane fun.

Patriots: 3 best non-Super Bowl playoff games of the decade

New England has been dominant in the 2010s, reaching the playoffs every year. I am to figure out which of their playoff games were the best.