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At 35, Champ Bailey still a leader on Denver defense

Champ Bailey, who has battled a foot injury all season, takes a leading role on defense for the Broncos, who are a different team when he’s not on the field. ed andrieski/associated press

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It’s not what Champ Bailey says, it’s how he says it.

The tone is different.

He doesn’t scream the calls.

He practically whispers sweet nothings.

“You know when he’s out there,” said linebacker Danny Trevathan, “because he talks to you real smooth and lets you know everything is all right.”

With all the signals howling around him, Bailey has a way of settling things down on the field, Trevathan said.

The 15 years Bailey’s spent in the NFL come through in his subtle seen-it-all voice.

“He’s just Champ,” Trevathan said. “He’s just cool. When you’re out there, you want to play for that guy because you know he has your back through whatever.”

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For 11 games this season, the Denver defense’s calming voice over the past decade was missing.

A Lisfranc injury in his left foot suffered in the preseason made most of the season miserable for the 12-time Pro Bowler.

His status all season toggled between active and inactive.

It wasn’t until the final two weeks of the regular season that Bailey, 35, felt strong enough to return.

Before this season, Bailey had missed only 13 games in his career.

“It’s been very frustrating — my most frustrating, probably because I’m living it right now,” Bailey said. “The only thing I care about now is I’m back on the field. I’m ready to go. I feel good, and that’s all that matters right now.”

The Broncos went from being the league’s third-best team against the pass a year ago to the sixth worst. The void left by Bailey was obvious.

Losing Bailey was just the start of the Broncos’ injury issues on defense.

Four of the Broncos’ opening day starters are on injured reserve: defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson, safety Rahim Moore, defensive end Derek Wolfe, and defensive back Chris Harris. That doesn’t include star linebacker Von Miller, who started the season with a six-game suspension and ended it last month with a season-ending ACL injury.

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“I don’t think this whole [year] we have had a consistent starting lineup,” said defensive lineman Terrance Knighton.

When the Broncos faced the Patriots in November — without Bailey — Tom Brady had a field day, mostly in the second half. He was 34 of 50 passing for 344 yards and three touchdowns in New England’s 34-31 overtime victory.

“Champ’s pretty close to the face of that franchise, has been for the last decade,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “Great player, great ball skills, tremendous consistency. I think Champ is one of the players that, [what] makes him so special is he can just match up against anybody.

“[You] can put him on big receivers, can put him on tight ends, can put him on little, fast guys. You can put him on anybody you want. He’s always been able to cover the top players; excellent run force player, good tackler, tough, very instinctive. He’s been a great football player. He’s had a great career.”

It took a 337-yard yield to the San Diego Chargers in Week 15 for a battered Broncos defense to have a meeting.

In their final two regular-season games, the Broncos did not give up more than two touchdowns in a game.

Not coincidentally, Bailey returned at the same time. The Broncos held the Raiders and the Texans to less than 210 passing yards.

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“You’re more comfortable when you have a Champ Bailey behind you,” Knighton said. “It makes things a lot easier for the D-Line — rushing the quarterback and things like that. It also makes it hard for the quarterback. They’re not going to throw to his side most of the time and he basically shuts down half the field, so it helps out everybody.”

With so many parts moving around because of injuries, having Bailey back re-established some order.

“He knows what’s going on,” said linebacker Wesley Woodyard. “You can do a lot of different things when you’ve got Champ on the field, as far as coverage-wise. It makes it easier for our secondary to communicate.

“He’s a huge part of what goes on in that secondary. Whether he’s off the field or on the field, he’s always the kind of guy that’s giving that leadership and that advice of what kind of plays to look for in certain situations.”

When Bailey gives an order, teammates trust him.

“He is reassuring,” Trevathan said. “He communicates. That’s what we need out of our leaders. All of us need to communicate and be on one page so when stuff gets hectic, you don’t just fall out of place.’’

As the cornerstone of the Broncos defense for so many years, Bailey knows how much his voice carries, especially with the younger players in the locker room.

“They listen, that’s the one thing I like about our young guys,” Bailey said. “They don’t think they know it all. We’ve got a great group of young guys, and to be honest with you, we’re only going to go as far as they take [us]. They’re very important to us in what we do, so they definitely take all they can take in.”

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Since he’s returned, Bailey has been on a relatively short leash. He was on the field for just 28 snaps last week.

He says he’s prepared to play as big a role as needed Sunday.

“I’m ready for whatever they want me to do,” Bailey said. “That is the way I prepare. I’ve never not prepared like that. It wouldn’t be a surprise if that was the case.”

Still, at 35, the injury that nagged him all season was a reminder of his football mortality.

He has played nine playoff games in his career, but the farthest he has ever gotten is the AFC Championship in the 2005 season.

In one of Bailey’s great playoff moments — although not for Patriots fans — he intercepted Tom Brady in the end zone and returned it 100 yards. Bailey fumbled — thanks to Ben Watson’s hustle — and the Broncos got the ball at the New England 1. They scored to take a 17-6 lead en route to a 27-13 victory. It was Brady’s first loss in the playoffs.

Bailey endured a five-year playoff drought — a stretch in which the Broncos put together just one winning season — before sniffing the playoffs again.

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He could have easily been another great player lost in a pile of forgotten seasons.

But he held out hope that eventually he’d get back to the postseason.

“We had some up-and-down years, but that is the reason why, when my contract was up there was no doubt I wanted to be back here,” Bailey said. “Because this organization is about winning, so it wasn’t going to take long until we got back to it. I feel good about what I did and am definitely glad I’m still here.”


Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.