Steve Sabol was a football guy. And among football guys, there is no higher compliment.

Sabol passed away after a courageous 18-month battle with brain cancer. He fought the fight the best he could and then it ended, but his influence on pro football will never end.

Who in America has not been influenced by the films produced by NFL Films over the past seven decades? Virtually every football fan in America has seen these films over and over, and they all look just as good all the time.

NFL Films invented the steady cam, the slow motion shot of the football in spiral coming toward you, was the first to go inside the locker room, right here in Denver with Lou Saban’s Broncos in 1968.

Bronco fans — you know the shot of Lou Saban on the sideline, commenting to his offensive line coach and dear friend Whitey Dovell, “They’re KILLING me, Whitey, they’re killing me…”