5 momentous plays in Week 7: Dan Campbell gets bailed out after bonkers fourth-down gamble, and red-zone woes hurt Saints, Ravens and Packers

One theme that connected some of the more momentous plays from Sunday's action was where they occurred on the field. The closer you are to the end zone, the more damaging the mistakes tend to be.

We had a major red-zone failure by the Saints in the early game in Paris . Multiple red-zone mistakes followed in the 1 p.m. ET window. And more in the late afternoon slate.

There were also some non-red-zone errors of note, including one that helped prevent another upset in a topsy-turvy Week 7 in the NFL.

Here are some of the more momentous plays from Sunday:

1. Au revoir, points: Tyler Shough's pick sinks Saints in Paris

The Steelers led the Saints, 13-10, at halftime in Paris. New Orleans had the ball first in the second half and was threatening to take the lead in a low-scoring, defensive battle.

After a slow start, it appeared the Saints were gaining steam. QB Tyler Shough converted multiple third downs on a drive that lasted seven-plus minutes and had the Saints cooking with a second-and-7 play at the Steelers' 10-yard line.

That's when linebacker Payton Wilson undercut Chris Olave's route and stepped in front of Shough's pass for a critical interception.

Wilson even tacked on 18 yards on the INT return. The Steelers put up another field goal for a 16-10 lead. Just as important, the Steelers drained off another seven-plus minutes on that drive.

That was the entire third quarter: those two possessions.

The Saints ended up having the ball only six times all game. Turning the ball over on one of those drives, with a great chance to score, ended up proving costly.

2. Passing up field goal hurt Ravens in second-half avalanche

The Ravens led 13-0 at halftime, and there's an argument that they didn't do enough in the first half to pad that lead. Baltimore dominated the first half, possessing the ball for 22-plus minutes, but couldn't build a big enough advantage.

Prior to their first field goal, the Ravens were going for it on fourth-and-1 but they false started, leading to the kick. On the second try, 50 seconds before the half, Ravens head coach Jesse Minter opted not to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the Bengals' 6-yard line.

With Lamar Jackson playing, that's probably a go. With Tyler Huntley starting, Minter went for three points.

The bigger swing might have happened in the second half, when Minter got way more aggressive. The Ravens held the Bengals down badly in the first half defensively, but Joe Burrow unleashed the dragon in the third quarter. After two straight long TD drives, the Bengals were suddenly up, 14-13. The Ravens answered, with Huntley and Derrick Henry moving the ball to the Bengals' 12-yard line. Minter faced a fourth-and-2 decision: kick for the lead or go for it. Minter went for it, and the gamble didn't pay off.

Now, there are a few schools of thought here. Some might argue the Bengals were going to score regardless of whether the Ravens made the field goal. Given the way they moved the ball in the second half, it's fair.

But the Ravens needed to come away with points there and might have also gained a slight psychological edge with the lead. Perhaps they wouldn't have played with the level of desperation they seemed to after halftime.

3. Wonnum's block saved Campbell's bacon

For a 20-17 game, Packers-Lions had a lot going on . Especially in the final five minutes.

The Lions got the ball back after the Packers tied it, 17-17, with just over seven minutes left. They acted like a team that was going to end the game right then and there. After a 9-yard gain on first down, the Lions had back-to-back no-gains.

That set up a fourth-and-1 from his own 24-yard line with just under five minutes remaining. And, boy, that's Dan Campbell's music.

Detroit's head coach went for it, and Jahmyr Gibbs was stopped for a 2-yard loss. The Packers were in terrific shape at the Lions' 22-yard line, and had they converted a first down, they'd have put Campbell in a bind with timeouts and the clock.

But it was all moot when the Packers missed on third down and Trey Smack's field-goal try was barely deflected by the Lions' D.J. Wonnum. It's hard to say whether it affected the flight of the ball, but one way or another, the kick missed.

The Lions took the ball down and drained the clock well, with Gibbs smartly refusing to score when the Packers tried to lure him into doing so. It was a win, but a fortunate one, given how Campbell's decision panned out.

"We need to be better as a staff there," Campbell said in his postgame locker-room speech. But he praised Wonnum and his team for toughness in the face of adversity. Self-created adversity at that. Thankfully, Wonnum's block made that decision null and void.

4. Back-to-back turnovers stunted Titans' upset hopes

The Titans stormed out to a 14-0 lead and put the Browns on upset alert early. The Browns chipped away at the deficit with a key second-quarter sequence.

The Browns had regained some momentum with a goal-line stand and a touchdown off a Cam Ward interception. It appeared they had given it right back to the Titans when Harold Fannin Jr. was stripped by the Titans' Anthony Hill Jr. at the Cleveland 44-yard line.

Just a few yards from scoring range, with a chance to make it a two-score game again, Ward's pick gave the ball right back. The Browns drove for a touchdown to tie the game and, after a Titans three-and-out, Cleveland added a field goal right before the half. It was suddenly 17-14, Cleveland, and Tennessee's momentum was sapped in a brutal second quarter.

The teams played evenly in the second half, although a missed field goal by the Browns was a big boost to the Titans. Either way, the Titans blew their chance to steal a game with that key second-quarter sequence that went the Browns' way.

5. Taaffe's pick gummed up Jets' comeback chances

A rookie safety sniped a veteran quarterback and helped the Dolphins win their first game of the season. Michael Taaffe's second pick of the season came at a critical juncture of Miami's 28-25 victory to end the team's winless start .

The Dolphins took a 14-7 lead early, but the Jets were driving deep in Miami territory. On first-and-10 from the Jets' 21-yard line, Taafe one-upped veteran QB Geno Smith:

The team traded punts on the next two possessions. On Miami's possession after that, it drove 15 plays and 91 yards for a touchdown before the half to take a shocking 21-7 lead. The march soaked up nearly nine minutes, with Jets head coach Aaron Glenn failing to leave any reasonable time back for his offense to score before halftime.

The Jets scored 17 points in the second half, showing some life, but a missed field-goal try was another killer.

It's hard to win games when teams give away as many points as the Jets did Sunday.