He has played through broken fingers and bruised ribs and twisted knees, and Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford said his latest ailment — a back injury that has limited him in six straight practices dating back to last week — won't keep him out of action Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.

"I played with it last week, so I plan on playing with it again," Stafford said.

Stafford hurt his back in a Dec. 2 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, but played through the injury in last week's win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Though he was limited to just 101 yards passing and no touchdowns in Arizona, his lowest passing total since he separated his throwing shoulder in the first half of a 2010 game against the Chicago Bears, Stafford insisted Friday the injury has not affected his play.

"No," Stafford said. "I don’t think anybody in the league right now is probably 100 percent. We’ve played a lot of football, so I’m just out there doing what I can to help us win. That’s the bottom line, that’s my only goal.”

The Lions (5-8) remain on the fringe of playoff contention heading into Sunday's game in Buffalo, but they need to win their final three games against the Bills, Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers and get lots of help to make the postseason.

Stafford, who postponed his regular media availability session on Thursday to get treatment for his back — "It just took a little longer than expected," he said — has made 125 consecutive starts for the Lions, the third most among active NFL quarterbacks.

Lions coach Matt Patricia said he won't take Stafford's ironman streak into account when deciding whether to play the quarterback going forward, and he wouldn't speculate on what it would take to shut down Stafford for the season.

Stafford was listed as questionable on the Lions' Friday injury report for the second straight week.

"I don’t know what his pain level is, but I would say, look, he’s battling every single day," Patricia said. "He’s a tough guy. He’s fighting through an injury just like a lot of the guys are. A lot of guys are beat up at this time of the year. That’s just kind of the way it is. It’s just day to day from that standpoint."

Stafford declined to share details of his injury Friday, saying "I’m just battling through, just like everybody else in this league, just like everybody else in this locker room, to help our team win."

Patricia said it's up to players to maintain their body and try "not to let small things turn into big things as you go through the course of the season." But he did not say whether he considers Stafford's injury a "small thing."

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He also disputed a suggestion that Stafford's back injury has taken a toll on his game, saying, "I think maybe you’re reading into that stuff too much."

"We’re trying to go win, we’re trying to go play a game," Patricia said. "We’ve got to go beat the Bills. We’ve got a lot of guys in that category that are just out there trying to go and guys that can play will play and guys that can’t won’t. I certainly won’t put anybody in a situation where I think they’re going to be an injury risk to themselves or the team. I would never do that from that standpoint. They’re more than just players. They’re fathers, they’re brothers, they’re human beings. They’re guys, and you love them and you care about them and you want to make sure that they’re safe and that’s the most important thing."

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