I'm not sure which part is worse: that Tony Romo may have thought it was third down at the end of the Broncos game, or that the Dallas Morning News had to actually report that the Cowboys starting quarterback did in fact know it was fourth down. Either way, this all seems to perfectly sum up the Wade Phillips era in Dallas.

In case you missed it, yesterday rumors surfaced that Romo thought it was only third down when he ran the same exact play twice: an incomplete slant to Sam Hurd in the endzone. (He can be seen here signaling "three" after the second attempt.)

But worry not, Cowboys fans! Tony Romo totally knew it was fourth down on that play.

Dalrymple said Romo told the players in the huddle prior to the play that it was fourth down. But as Romo left the field, he noticed the down marker on the Cowboys sideline read "three."

Believing an error could have been made, Romo went to the officials and held up three fingers, asking if it had really been third down. He was told no.

It turns out the down marker was in the process of being changed sequentially from four to one to reflect the change of possession.

Patrick Crayton added, "You've got to realize, after that play, we're taking our time, waiting to see if a flag is going to be thrown or whatever, and they're changing the down marker to go down. I see the same thing, thinking it says third down." And before the video even made its way to the Internet, both Wade Phillips and Hurd confirmed that Romo knew it was fourth down. So there, all you Tony Romo naysayers.

Now that we got that settled, can we go back to asking why the Cowboys ran the same play two times in a row? Or why Romo threw at Champ Bailey on consecutive plays? Or why the Cowboys don't use Jason Witten in the redzone?