The NFL will honor Steve Sabol this week in the most appropriate way possible: on film.
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In every NFL stadium this week, a video tribute to the late NFL Films president will air before kickoff, a league source told NFL.com and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
It's fitting that the first game of the week will be on NFL Network on Thursday night. The entire network owes a debt of gratitude for its very existence to Sabol, for the work he did in the decades before it arrived and for all the countless hours of programming NFL Films has provided since.
It has been an emotional week for so many that were connected to Sabol. That is to say it has been an emotional week for so many connected to football, even the fans that only knew Sabol through his work.
Sabol spent his life glorifying football. He would not want his tribute to distract from the field, but it only seems right that his image will be seen in the moment just before kickoff of the game he loved and helped build.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.