Report: Lions' Matthew Stafford played with broken bones in back

Matthew Stafford has started 128 consecutive games for the Detroit Lions, a streak surpassed in NFL history by only five quarterbacks: Brett Favre, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan. But according to a writer for the team’s official website, he played at least a few of those games last year with broken bones in his back.

“He had a broken back last year,” Mike O’Hara said during a recent episode of his weekly podcast with WJR radio’s Ken Brown. “Broken bones in his back.”

O’Hara said news about Stafford having broken bones in his back has “been reported,” though a scan of articles from last year suggests that isn’t the case. He was, however, listed on the injury report with a back injury after taking a number of hits from the Los Angeles Rams in a Week 13 loss. Stafford started Detroit’s remaining four games, throwing three touchdowns without an interception but also getting sacked four more times.

“(Stafford) had the back thing, and he went through numerous things where he wanted to play through it, and our doctors said he could play through it,” Lions general manager Bob Quinn said in January, per MLive.com’s Kyle Meinke. “He showed a lot of toughness. That’s a credit to him. That’s one thing I’ll never, ever question. This guy loves football. He’s competitive. He’s talented. We need to do a better job of putting better players around him and scheming up things better to use his talent.”

Meinke said Tuesday that Stafford’s injuries were more serious than previously reported, though he did not confirm O’Hara’s statement about broken bones in his back.

Stafford also suffered a chest injury in Week 1 against the Jets and an injury to the pinkie on his nonthrowing hand later in the season, yet he still played in all but 23 of Detroit’s 1,075 offensive snaps. He also threw for the fewest yards (3,777) of any full season in his career and his 21 touchdown passes were the fewest since 2012.

Playing through broken bones in one’s back must be painful, but it’s been done before: In 2014, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo suffered two fractures in his transverse process — projections of bone that emanate from the vertebrae — against the Washington Redskins but was back in the starting lineup two weeks later.

Former Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing did the same in 2016.