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I don't mean to alarm you, but an NFL player has made a rather stunning statement: The Detroit Lions aren't going in the right direction.

That's the word from Rams defensive end James Hall, who spent his first seven seasons in Detroit before being traded to St. Louis. During those seven seasons, Hall had six head coaches, and he thinks that's a sign of trouble in Detroit:

"I personally didn't feel that the organization was going in the right direction, as far as the people they were bringing in to make it a winning team," he said. "I just got tired of, every two years, rotating the coaching staff, guys going in and out, not really having any continuity on the team. I just felt like I wasn't going to have the opportunity to get something done there.

"It got to the point where it was so frustrating, disappointing, that (the playoffs were) hard to watch."

Now that Hall is on the Rams, he'll get a taste of what playing for a more competent franchise is like. Of course, I could substitute "Rams" with any of 31 NFL teams in that sentence, and it would still be true.