It's Week 1 of the NFL season, meaning you can finally put the heartbreaks and disappointments of last year's NFL season behind you and look forward to new beginnings! Unless, of course, you're a Patriots fan who likes to drink Dunkin' Donuts coffee (i.e. pretty much every Patriots fan). 

Pats fans who visited their local Dunks this week might've been mystified to find that the coffee shop was serving drinks in cups commemorating the Philadelphia Eagles' Super Bowl victory last season. Considering that win came against the Patriots, it's probably something that triggered a vast number of New Englanders -- especially since Dunkin' is a Massachusetts-born company.

We are getting reports that Dunkin' Donuts is serving iced beverages in Philadelphia Eagles World Champs cups RIGHT HERE...

Posted by FUN 107 on Sunday, September 2, 2018

According to Dunkin' Donuts, there was a mixup causing some stores in New England to get the Eagles branded cups instead of the Patriots ones that were supposed to be delivered there. The company released a statement apologizing for the mistake and promised to fix the situation.

"We appreciate our loyal customers for bringing this to our attention, and we are taking steps to ensure all of our local stores are stocked with the correct cups. Go Pats."

Call me a skeptic, but I've been on the internet far too long to believe this nonsense was just an honest mistake. Of all the teams to "accidentally" send to New England stores, they just happened to ship the Eagles -- the one team that would sting most for Pats fans? Hmmmm...

No, I would be willing to bet that this is an inside job, folks. The way I see it, there are two options here: 1) A mean-spirited Dunkin' employee intentionally switched the shipments to troll some Pats fans, which would honestly be a world-class prank. Or, and this is the more probable option in my mind, 2) It's a marketing ploy. 

With Dunkin' being a New England company, they know just as well as anyone that finding an Eagles logo on their beloved Dunks cup would irk them pretty good -- enough to get them to gripe about it on social media and cause a stir. But not enough to get loyal New Englanders to stop drinking their scalding motor oil.

And so the perfect opportunity for some free marketing was born. 

You "accidentally" ship the wrong box to a select few New England locations, get a few people to post about it online, immediately address the situation with a public statement that draws even more eyes to the brand, then vow to fix it. News outlets, such as this one, catch on and cover the whole thing, leading to EVEN MORE publicity. 

It's a genius business move that I have no choice but to respect, which is why I'm willing to play right into their hand with this piece of free advertising. But, with that being said, I'm not about to let the suits think they got away with pulling a fast one on me. I'm on to you, Dunkin' Donuts. If you would like to send me free hash browns as a hush bribe, I will delete this post faster than you could even imagine.