PITTSBURGH – A shared memory can mean something different to those who shared it.

For Peyton Manning, the snapshot of Ben Roethlisberger’s touchdown-saving tackle against the Indianapolis Colts in an AFC divisional-playoff game on Jan. 15, 2006 – 10 years ago Friday – is a bit fuzzy, eliciting an indifference to the moment.

“Some of [my teammates] probably weren’t even born when that game was played, much less they probably don’t have much of an interest in it,” Manning said this week when asked about the Colts’ 21-18 loss to Pittsburgh. “It was a long time ago.”

For Jerome Bettis, though, a diving Roethlisberger clutching cornerback Nick Harper’s right foot and guiding him to the RCA Dome turf signified something much more – the Hall of Fame. Bettis, who fumbled at the goal line with 1:18 left in what could have been his last playoff game, famously said to Roethlisberger at his Hall of Fame speech in August: “Without you, I might still be at the doorstep. I owe you for life.”

Harper recovered the fumble. Thirty-six yards later, he went down. Eventually, so did the Colts. And Bettis went out a Super Bowl winner.

For many others, the tackle sparked an avalanche of emotions that have stayed with fans and former players a decade later for convenient tailgating conversation.

“Before the Cincinnati game, we were at a Steelers function and the play came up,” said Chris Hoke, the Steelers’ nose tackle from 2001-11. “It was a classic year, and that was a classic play.”

To recapture the moment, ESPN spoke with principals from that game – including then-Colts coach Tony Dungy, Colts linebacker Gary Brackett, Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Heath Miller and Hoke.

Roethlisberger, who declined comment while focusing on his shoulder rehab, made the play, but the moment was about much more. Dungy still wonders how those Colts didn’t win it all.

“That was probably our best team,” he said.

For the tight end, panic …

Miller, a rookie tight end out of Virginia, was a blocker to the right side, tasked with helping create a hole for Bettis to barrel through. Bettis never fumbled, the whole team thought.

Then the ball floated into the air, courtesy of Brackett’s helmet.

“I was on the ground, looking back,” Miller said. “Then I got up and I was just running in a panic. I was running but I wasn’t catching [Harper].”

Miller wasn’t sure anyone would catch Harper, who had the inside track on a coast-to-coast score to take a 24-21 lead.

Suddenly, Miller sees his 240-plus-pound quarterback settling into a slow backpedal. Miller knew Roethlisberger was athletic, but he figured he was doomed trying to tackle a cornerback in about 50 yards of space.

The play was a blur in the moment, but a decade later, Miller’s vision of Roethlisberger snatching the leg feels like a slow-motion NFL Films reel.

“That was probably the most emotional game, highs and lows, that I’ve ever been a part of,” Miller said. “Just the fact he was able to get that guy on the ground, still, I shake my head at to this day. He reached for Harper’s leg and it was like slow motion for everyone. (Recently) someone asked me about ranking playoff games. That one is probably at the top.”

For the linebacker, near-hero status …

Colts defenders had checked out. The Steelers were up 3 points and showed no signs of giving the ball back. The Colts got the memo, too: Bettis never fumbles.

But Brackett was Dungy’s top-line soldier, so he barked at his defense to make a play. They didn’t have the look of a hungry bunch, he remembered. Brackett knew he had to do something. Dungy told him to get the ball.

So as the Colts set in their goal-line base defense, Brackett fixed his eyes on Bettis’ massive right arm, and the ball tucked inside it.

“I shot the gap,” Brackett said. “Tried to get the helmet square on the ball.”

Now the Colts had something. Brackett exploded into the ball. He felt satisfied, then got up and ran downfield. Then he noticed how Harper was running down the field. That’s not how the Colts were taught by defensive coaches.

Run down the sideline.

Nope. Harper cut to the middle of the field.

“Zigged when he should have zagged,” Brackett said. “If he (went to the sideline), history would have been different.”

As for Roethlisberger’s tackle, Brackett isn’t surprised a quarterback brought down a corner.

“Nothing in the NFL surprises me,” Brackett said. “I’ve seen it all.”

For the losing head coach, false intuition …

No hyperbole, but Dungy can’t help but wonder whether he’d be a two-time Super Bowl winner had Harper scored. That Colts team was better than the 2006-07 team that actually won the championship, Dungy said.

So when Brackett dislodged the football from Bettis’ grip, Dungy thought momentum had shifted in the building for good.

“We’re going to win this game,” Dungy recalled about his first thought in the moment. “And, then, my second thought was, he actually made that tackle. A quarterback’s not supposed to make that tackle.”

Dungy’s third thought was heartbreak for Bettis, who had declared this was his last season. Dungy always liked Bettis on and off the field. He wanted to win, but he didn’t want to see Bettis lose. Not like this. It would have been an awful way to go out, he thought in the moment.

The Colts still had time to win it, but Dungy said Manning and Reggie Wayne miscommunicated on a presnap hand signal Manning had run hundreds of times before. The mishap bungled a third-down play. Mike Vanderjagt’s 46-yard field goal attempt then sailed right.

Dungy figures the teams are even. He wasn’t so convinced Troy Polamalu’s interception should have been reversed. He challenged the play because he had a hunch, but it was a pretty clean catch.

“You still think about those things from time to time,” Dungy said. “You always think about the critical plays in every game, whether you win or lose them. And there were certainly quite a few in that game.”

For the nose tackle, ‘pure elation’…

Hoke heard a few colorful words from the sideline after the fumble. He remembers a long “ooooh noooo” coming from his mouth as Harper streaked downfield.

The defensive players didn’t have time to be enamored with Roethlisberger’s tackle once it happened. They still had to win the game. But once Pittsburgh secured the win, Hoke had his what-just-happened moment.

“As he was going backward, it was almost like he was trying to slow up Harper until he could get teammates to help him,” Hoke said. “They were coming but couldn’t get there fast enough. So Ben just reeeached out and got one hand on him and barely hung on.”

Hoke was reminded of Roethlisberger’s athleticism every time the two would play pickup basketball and Roethlisberger, at 6-foot-5, would run point. The team knew he was capable of making plays.

Bettis had to rely on teammates to win him the game, which made it that much sweeter when the defense got a stop.

“Pure elation,” Hoke said.