Here we go again...no clue what to even think about this at this point. My only thought is that is curious that "they" waited to break the story until the first day of free agency, when everybody's eyes are on the NFL. It's also important to remember that no charges have been filed at this point. Also, remember this is coming from TMZ.

TMZ:

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault by a young woman in Georgia, TMZ has learned.

The alleged incident occurred early this morning at Capital City -- a club in Milledgeville, Georgia.

The alleged victim, who has already been interviewed by police, has been treated and released.

We're told in addition to the alleged victim, witnesses are being interviewed -- and one law enforcement source says they will attempt to interview Roethlisberger.

In addition to the Milledgeville Police Dept, we've learned the Georgia Bureau of Investigations is also investigating.

Story developing ...

Free agency is here and the Steelers have been typically silent so far. Casey Hampton has been re-signed and Jeff Reed has been franchise tagged, but a handfull of other Steeler players are now on the open market. Jump it for a list of the UFAs and some analysis.

2009 was definitely a down year for the Steelers defensive backfield. Giving up 4th-quarter comebacks to opponents' hurry-up passing games, missing tackles like nobody's business, and certainly not intercepting passes. A lot of blame falls on the DBs for last season, but pessimism isn't the answer, so we'll highlight some of the bright spots too.

Good news. Casey Hampton, the anchor of so many great Steeler defenses, was signed to a three-year contract earlier this morning.

The deal is worth over $21 million over a three year stretch. Hampton, 33, played all nine seasons of his career with the Steelers.

Reaction: I'm never in favor of handing out lucrative deals to 33 year olds, but this was really the Steelers only option here. If they let Hampton walk, there would be nobody on the roster even capable of doing a Big Snack impression over the course of an entire season. If they franchise him, Hampton is pissed off for the season and probably leaves at the first chance he can get. I doubt the Steelers are able to groom a replacement over the course of just one season too.

The Steelers are certainly in "win now" mode and there aren't many nose tackles better than Hampton. Sooner or later, they'll have to draft and start grooming a replacement, but this move makes sense for the next couple seasons.

Over the offseason, I'll do my beast to break down the Steelers by position in terms of how they did in 2009 and how they're poised to do in 2010 and beyond. Today we'll take a look at the backbone of the Steelers' consistently dominant defense, the linebacking corps.

It wasn't nearly as exciting as last year's sixth ring for us Steeler fans, but last night's Super Bowl was still pretty entertaining to watch. It's hard for me to watch any Super Bowl game without thinking of what the Steelers can learn from the teams on the field. I'm sure almost all of the players, coaches, and front office personnel were watching and here are a few things that they should have made special note of before they went to bed last night.

Borrowing my favorite trend from The Pensblog again.

Manning = stunned.

Pitt cancelled classes for Monday due to MASSIVE SNOW so I'll see if I can put something up about the Steelers in between writing huge papers on artifical intelligence and writing thousands of lines of code.

Whatever, it's all good right now. And with the Superbowl concluded, we are now officially in offseason mode. Here We Go.

Well, I've taken a bit of a break from posting to sit back and enjoy the playoffs, and enjoy them I did. But the Superbowl is fast approaching and with all the Brees vs. Manning hype all over the place, it feels like the right time to talk about something other than a high-flying offense.

And what's farther from a high-flying offense than the 2009 Steelers defensive line? We've got a lot of time to kill between now and training camp, so one of the things we'll look at will be the Steelers team by position. We'll look at how well they did and how well they're poised to do in 2010. Jump.

In list form:

1. The best way to win in the NFL has evolved. Just a few years ago, you still won by having a suffocating defense and a ferocious running attack. In short, the best way to win a big NFL game was by running the ball and stopping the run. This is the philosophy that the Steelers have long employed and one that most Steeler fans believe in. But I'm not sure it is the right one anymore. Just look at the Indinapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints -- the two teams who were leaps and bounds ahead of everybody else for most of the season. Both are defined by a passing offense. Indianapolis has to have one of the worst running attacks we've seen in recent Super Bowl matchups. On Sunday, the Colts offense relentlessly threw five-yard slant routes over and over again. Everybody knew they were going to do it, but it was unstoppable. Bruce Arians gets a hard time because of his pass-first mentality, but that is what the NFL elite teams are employing in this NFL. The Colts made easy work of two "old-school" teams during these playoffs. This is a passing league now and the Steelers have the horses to compete in it.

2. The officiating was mostly awful. It's always interesting to watch an NFL game with no real rooting interest and then look at the officials. That was my position for the NFC Championship game on Sunday night and I was horrified at what I saw. One of the reasons that the NFL is a passing league now is because of the ridiculous pass interference and illegal contact calls that litter big time games. The pass interference call in OT that went against the Vikings says it all. There wasn't even any contact down the field between defender and receiver, but if the offensive player falls down while covered, there's a good chance a yellow hankie will come flying. Simply, the defensive backs have no chance in this league most of the time.

3. Adrian Peterson is not the best running back in football. It doesn't matter how many yards and highlight-reel plays you rack up if you can't hold on to the football when it matters most. It's not an isolated incident a la Jerome Bettis-in--2005 either. He's done this time and time again and it is a big problem.