Ivy League QB, Bills bond over blue-collar roots 27SEP11

COME on BILLS, make it 4-0!!!! 
Each Tuesday, NFL Network reporter Albert Breer will share his thoughts on topics around the NFL as teams transition from the previous Sunday's game to the next encounter on the schedule. Today, he begins with a look at a blue-collar worker from Harvard.
I've always thought the term "blue-collar work ethic" was a little silly. It implies those who labor in offices and boardrooms aren't capable of pulling long hours, grinding themselves to exhaustion, or have to go through adversity to succeed. That notion, of course, is ridiculous.
Exhibit A is now playing quarterback for the Bills.
Can you be blue-collar coming from Harvard, as Ryan Fitzpatrick does? If you follow the definition above, the answer has to be yes.
"That is a great question," Bills coach Chan Gailey said, laughing. "But if it's possible, he is. I would certainly put him in the blue-collar category. I don't know if Harvard can go in the blue-collar category. He is, though. He is blue-collar."
So, it seems, is Fitzpatrick's entire arsenal of skill position weapons. C.J. Spiller is the only one of the 12 backs, tight ends and receivers on the active roster who was drafted in the first three rounds. The lone fourth-rounder, tight end Scott Chandler (by San Diego in 2007), was claimed off waivers last December. Half the group was undrafted, including four of the five receivers on the list.
No, the quarterback didn't go to a place like Coe College (Fred Jackson) or even Youngstown State (Donald Jones). But Fitzpatrick's underdog roots, as a seventh-round pick from a place where football players become stock brokers and lawyers, make him a perfect fit for this ragtag bunch.
"That's definitely something we bond over, and I think it makes us appreciate the opportunity we've been given even a little bit more, because we're all so unheralded and had to work so hard to get where we are," Fitzpatrick told me. "All of that fits with this city, that blue-collar mentality. I enjoy playing with those guys so much. There's zero ego. That makes my job a lot easier. The guys that I work with, they're all in to win, they're not about individual statistics."
That's led to two more important stats -- 3-0 (the team's record) and 113 (the league-leading number of points the Bills have scored) -- which are impressive, no matter where you're from. And it answers the question, too. If you want to follow the definition of that well-worn colloquialism, blue-collar work ethic, then yes, a Harvard guy is capable of rolling up his sleeves and fitting the bill.
"I guess you can say that," Jackson said, laughing. "He epitomizes a blue-collar guy. I've never seen a guy work as hard as he has, to get to where he is now."
Fitzpatrick got a kick out of the idea, too. But he was sure to add, "You're from Harvard, they assume you're spoon-fed your whole life. I promise you, that wasn't my upbringing."
And that goes especially for the way he's made his bones in the NFL.