"It'd be nice to win comeback player of the year when the award is announced tonight, but Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford won't be too heartbroken if the voting doesn't go his way.

"If I win it, it's great," Stafford said Friday between appearances on radio row at the Super Bowl. "If I don't, I'm not going to be all torn about it. Hopefully don't have a chance to win it ever again. Hopefully I'm not coming back from anything."

Stafford played 16 regular-season games this season for the first time, bouncing back from 2011 shoulder surgery to become the fourth quarterback in NFL history to throw for 5,000 yards.

He led the Lions to 10 wins and the playoffs, and set franchise single-season records for passing yards, touchdowns, completions and attempts.

While he called his feats "a total team accomplishment" Friday, Stafford said this season wasn't about vindication after being labeled injury prone early in his career.

Stafford missed six games as a rookie with knee and left shoulder injuries, and played just three games the following season because of two separated throwing shoulders. This season, he played through a fractured right index finger and high ankle sprain.

"I didn't worry about what other people were saying, to tell you the truth, for the most part," Stafford said. "I was just worried about trying to be out there with the guys and playing the best I can."

Former NFL quarterback Rich Gannon, one of 50 voters for comeback player of the year (he picked 49ers quarterback Alex Smith), said he was as impressed with Stafford's ability to play through injuries this year as he was with the eye-popping numbers he put up."