Notes from the Ravens-Cowboys telecast

*I don't know how many Baltimore fans made it to Texas Stadium, but I distinctly heard some Orioles "Ohhhh" calls from the crowd during the national anthem.

*The NFL Network graphic setting the lineup for the Cowboys said Marion Barber was starting at running back, but Tashard Choice was the starter.

*According to analyst Marshall Faulk, Choice is "what we call a football player." Later on, play-by-play man Bob Papa agreed, repeating that Choice is a football player. This is from the same manual on announcing that teaches commentators to say a PGA player has hit a "good golf shot."

*Faulk was on Willis McGahee's case a good bit, up to the point where McGahee popped the 77-yard touchdown run. On one carry, Faulk said McGahee had been struggling and it showed in the way he just "runs up his linemen's backs."

*Deion Sanders questioned the Cowboys' use -- lack of it, really -- of receiver Roy Williams, pointing out how the Ravens were focusing attention on Terrell Owens, with safety Ed Reed shading in T.O.'s direction, thus leaving Williams one-on-one most of the time.

*After McGahee's touchdown, Papa described the atmosphere this way: "... and all the air in Texas Stadium just went through the hole in the roof."

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The Ravens-Cowboys game was the NFL Network's highest-rated of the season, drawing 9.2 percent of the nation's cable TV audience, the NFL reports. It ranked No. 4 among cable sports programs this year, behind three Monday Night Football games on ESPN and tied with the AL Championship Series Game 7 between the Rays and Red Sox on TBS.