Editor's note: This is part of a weeklong look at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2019, focusing on plays, moments or defining characteristics of the inductees.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- It's been more than 13 years since former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan saw the "greatness of Champ Bailey" on a single play.

All this time later, Shanahan could still see it in living color, feel what it meant, because "you never forget something like that. I remember it like it just happened five minutes ago."

Bailey will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2019 for his 215-game career at cornerback, 12 Pro Bowl selections and 53 career interceptions. He will be enshrined for being "the smartest, the most athletic, most everything a DB can be, just an honor to sit by him in a meeting," Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said.

And when Bailey has been asked to select a play that sums up his career, he will usually simply defer to his body of work.

But when pressed, Bailey says there is one play "people ask about more than the rest, especially when they want to talk to me about the NFL, and it's really not close."

It was Jan. 14, 2006, in the third quarter of the Denver Broncos' AFC divisional round playoff game against the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick and New England quarterback Tom Brady were three Super Bowls into their current dynastic run of nine trips to the title game.

With the Broncos holding a 10-6 lead with 1:03 left in the third quarter, the Patriots faced a third-and-goal at the Broncos' 5-yard line. Brady tried to slip a pass into Troy Brown a yard deep in the end zone, but Bailey pounced and snatched the ball and headed the other way.

A hundred yards, one replay review and one touchdown-saving tackle made by the hustling Ben Watson later, Bailey had his signature play. Broncos running back Mike Anderson scored on a 1-yard run on the following play, and the Broncos had a 17-6 lead on the way to a 27-13 victory.

Here is the story of what that play meant to Bailey and his teammates:

Preparation matters

Mike Shanahan: "Look, he was so fast, so gifted, so smart and just a tough son of a bitch. If you can't coach a guy like that, you don't belong in football. Some guys have hips, have great speed, have hands, some instincts, but Champ was a football player with a sense of urgency to go with all of that skill and intelligence. He knew where that ball was going, he wanted it to go there, and he picked it off."

Bill Belichick, Patriots coach (in 2014): "Champ was great and unique in the fact he could match up with pretty much everybody -- fast guys, quick guys, big guys, physical receivers. He has the skill set, anticipation and awareness to play inside in the slot, and he could play outside ... really a complete player."

Al Wilson, former Broncos linebacker: "I'll never forget that one. We needed a play. They were driving, we're going to give up the lead -- I think [safety] Nick [Ferguson] blitzed -- and Champ and Darrent [Williams] made it happen. Champ knew where that ball was going."

Bailey: "I've said it before, but we had talked about that play on the sideline with the coaches before that series. [The Patriots] were working the picks out of that look, and we thought they would go to that down there. Me and Darrent, we worked a little in-and-out, and it was the right move at the right time."

John Lynch, former Broncos safety and current 49ers general manager: "I don't want to say you take a play that good for granted, but Champ was so good, so prepared, so able to do so many things, you just knew he was going to do something like that. ..."

'Out of gas'

Shanahan: "He got away from [Patriots running back Kevin Faulk], and we had guys around him up the sideline right in front of us. I thought, was hoping, it would be a touchdown. A 17-6 lead right then was going to be big, I thought our defense had stepped up, and we were going to play pretty good the rest of the day. I just wanted it to be a touchdown."

Jake Plummer, former Broncos quarterback: "When you're on the sideline, you're going over the next series. I knew the Patriots were down there, and you want to hold them to a field goal, and then our offense will get back out there and get it back. But I hear the people going crazy, and look up, and Champ has the ball going up the sideline. ..."

Bailey: "I wasn't slowing down [as he approached the goal line] to celebrate or anything. I was out of gas, completely out of gas, right then. Watson caught me. At least he's a Georgia guy, too."

Harris: "I told him a few times, you know, get on him a little bit, that he should have gotten in if he was really that fast. But as a corner, that's a dream play to make in that kind of game. Get the pick, go the distance almost, and you turn the game. Doesn't get any better than that."

Time marches on

The Broncos were upset at home the following week by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game. Lynch has routinely called that loss to the Steelers "one of the most bitter" of his career because "we were good enough to win the Super Bowl that year."

Bailey: "That was my seventh year in the league, and I thought we had a chance to get to the Super Bowl that year if we handled our business. Still, I didn't think it would take until my last year [2013] to get to the Super Bowl for the first time. Physically I wasn't the same by [2013], so it was different, but it really does show you, if you have a chance to get to a Super Bowl, you can't let it slip away. You might never get another shot. I don't think young guys always see that. Getting to the Super Bowl, man, that's hard."

Lynch: "What did he have, 18 interceptions in that year and the next one combined? [Bailey had eight interceptions in 2005, 10 in 2006.] He was so good for a long time, but it was all at the peak then."

Shanahan: "Getting him in that trade with Washington [in 2004] will always be a big moment for the Broncos, and for me. A privilege to coach him and see how he worked every day and how much he wanted to be with us, how much he gave to us. Just one damn good football player."

Harris: "I played with him for three years, and I can say I've been to the Pro Bowl, have a Super Bowl ring, because I learned from the best. I learned from a Hall of Famer who wanted to show us all the right way."