Pittsburgh Steelers

People need to back the hell off of Mike Vick -- and stop giving him hell for his dogfighting past -- so says his good friend Snoop Dogg ... who says, "What y’all gonna do hold it over his head forever?"

Snoop is a HUGE Pittsburgh Steelers fan -- and was asked by Complex Sports how he felt about Vick taking over the team, considering the controversy that still surrounds his 2007 dogfighting conviction.

Snoop's response was pretty strong ...

"I love Vick. Before he got to the Steelers. I loved him when he caught the case, [and] after he caught the case. Mistakes are made to be made. I mean, he did his time. What y’all gonna do hold it over his head forever?"

He continued, "It’s over with. He’s been punished, he’s been banned from the league, he came back, he's on the good foot, he ain’t been around dogs, he ain’t do nothing like that."

No deflated footballs this time ... but the Pittsburgh Steelers are strongly insinuating the New England Patriots executed a diabolic illegal plan Thursday night to screw Steelers coaches ... involving headsets.

The Steelers coaches claim their headsets were not properly functioning for the 1st quarter of last night's game ... and they're pointing the finger squarely at the Pats.

Here's an article that was posted to the Steelers' official website:

"This is the kind of stuff that happens to the visiting team in Gillette Stadium all the time. From the start of the game through the opening 14 minutes of the first quarter, the Steelers’ coaches’ headsets were receiving the Patriots Radio Network broadcast of the game."

"The broadcast was so loud that the Steelers coaches were unable to communicate, and the NFL rule is that if one team’s headsets are not working the other team is supposed to be forced to take their headsets off."

"It’s what the NFL calls the Equity Rule. Strangely enough, whenever an NFL representative proceeded to the New England sideline to shut down their headsets, the Steelers headsets cleared. Then as the representative walked away from the New England sideline, the Steelers’ headsets again started to receive the Patriots game broadcast."

Mike Vick is a Pittsburgh Steeler ... inking a 1-year deal with the team moments ago ... TMZ Sports has learned.

As we previously reported, Vick flew to Pittsburgh this morning for a workout and a physical and the team liked what they saw -- so they signed him to a deal.

Vick had received offers from multiple teams -- but we're told he felt the Steelers were the best fit.

This will be Vick's 13th season in the league.

Things are moving pretty quickly between Michael Vick and the Pittsburgh Steelers ... with sources close to Vick telling TMZ Sports the QB hopes both sides can reach a deal by "the end of the day."

Our Vick sources tell us ... the QB had received "multiple offers" from NFL teams, including the Steelers -- but he really liked what Pittsburgh is bringing to the table.

Vick flew out to the Steel City this morning to meet with the team.

'Coach' and 'The Chin' weren't enough ... so now Bill Cowher can also go by 'Grandpa' -- his daughter Lindsay and her husband, Lakers forward Ryan Kelly, just had their first baby.

The baby ... Nile Jeremiah Kelly was born last night, and he's a big boy ... 8.8 lbs. and 22 in. long.

It's not known if Coach Cowher was actually at the hospital when Lindsay popped, but the ex-Steelers coach took a hands on approach with Lindsay's dating life ... at least according to his son-in-law, Ryan.

So, now that they have a baby boy ... the question: Dad is in the NBA, grandpa's an NFL coaching legend -- do you play football or basketball?

No Brady? No problem ... because the New England Patriots are still FAVORED to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1 ... according to multiple major Vegas sports books.

TMZ Sports spoke with honchos at multiple major sports books in Vegas who all told us the same thing -- the Pats were favored by 6.5 before the suspension ... and will be favored by 2-3 points now.

Tony Miller, the director of the race and sports book at the Golden Nugget, says ... "They're still the Patriots ... and they have a couple of months to get Jimmy Garoppolo ready."

Get this ... we're told most sports books took down the game after the Wells Report -- refusing to take bets because of the possibility of a suspension ... which could impact the line.

But now, we're told most, if not all, books will start taking action again as soon as today ... with the new odds.

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Antwon Blake was arrested over the weekend for allegedly being drunk in public ... TMZ Sports has learned

Police in Oceanside, CA tell us Blake was busted early Sunday morning after he was seen walking around drunk outside of the bars downtown.

We're told he was arrested by local police who let him sober up ... then they released him.

Blake appeared in all 16 games last season for the Steelers, starting one.

Steelers cornerback William Gay is taking that whole "dance like no one is watching" thing to new levels ... doing a shirtless dance revue on Instagram ... and we got to say ... dude's got the moves.

Gay -- for reasons we're not sure of -- posted five different videos to the 'gram of him (quite expertly) executing every hot dance move out there including The Whip, The Jook, and the death-defying Bobble Walk.

He even got in a couple of real life inspired joints, including Rich Homie Quan's signature onstage waddle, and his teammate Antonio Brown's touchdown dance The Beanie Wiggle.

Pharrell Williams has officially passed the wide brim hat torch to a guy who torches defenses ... Steelers star Antonio Brown tells TMZ Sports his fashion forward lid set him back over $600!

Brown is with the rest of the sports world at the Super Bowl in Arizona so when our camera guy ran into the always dapper Pro Bowler we had to ask ... dude, what's with the hat?

That's when Brown swagged us out a little bit, telling us that his fancy lid wasn't any regular dome-shielder ... this one put a $600 dent in his $42 million pockets.

One more thing ... we're not fashion experts ... and far be it for us to question a man's right to expression, but ...

Young, rich, single NFL players better get chicks to sign contracts before taking them out on dates ... at least that's how former Steelers superstar Hines Ward sees it.

The ex Super Bowl champ went on Meredith Vieira's talk show and said single NFL players are being targeted by conniving women. Ward's point seemed to be that these women are falsely accusing players in domestic violence cases.

Pretty bold statement -- and Ward even went on to suggest single players get something in writing with their dates.

Here's Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown gearing up for this weekend's big playoff game ... by getting stuck with HUNDREDS of acupuncture needles.

Turns out, several Steelers players SWEAR by the traditional Chinese technique ... including linebacker James Harrison ... who claims it's the ultimate pain reliever.

In fact, some NFL stars can get super competitive when it comes to the treatment -- with Harrison once admitting he told his therapist to stick him with 300 NEEDLES after hearing an NFL running back was routinely treated with 232.

Apparently, Chris Rock is not a Ben Roethlisberger fan -- calling the Pittsburgh Steelers QB the "Original Cosby" during a media event in Baltimore last night.

Rock was addressing the crowd before a screening of his new movie "Top 5" when he said, "I was getting ready to say something really bad about Roethlisberger ... he's the original Cosby."

Rock is clearly harkening back a few years -- when two different women accused Big Ben of rape in two different cities.

Roethlisberger was first accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Lake Tahoe back in 2008. He ultimately settled with his accuser and was never charged with a crime.

The second alleged incident went down in Georgia in 2010 ... when Ben allegedly assaulted a woman in a nightclub bathroom. He was investigated by cops but never charged with a crime.

Ben was never accused of drugging the women ... unlike Bill Cosby who has been accused of giving women pills before taking advantage of them.

After Rock cracked the joke ... he realized the comment might spark some controversy -- saying, "That's horrible ... that's gonna go everywhere."

Props to our friends at the Baltimore Sun for getting the video.

Nothing heals the pain of a loss like a $3,000 bottle of cognac ... just ask the Pittsburgh Steelers linebackers who busted out TWO bottles of Louis XIII at a Pittsburgh casino last night.

James Harrison, along with the rest of the LB crew, hit up Andrew's Steak and Seafood Restaurant at the Rivers Casino ... where they poured the cognac into fancy glasses engraved with their names.

Louis XIII is some of the most expensive cognac in the world -- right now, BevMo is selling the stuff for $3,000 per bottle (if you're a ClubBev member).

Seems the guys polished off the booze ... at least judging by the way they were singing and goofing around at the end of the meal.

Expensive hangovers ... still hurt.

Hours after having one of the biggest games of his life, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell wasn't done showing off his moves ... cyber-flirting with Jordin Sparks.

Bell played out of his mind last night -- putting up 204 yards against the Titans ... the most rushing yards by a Steelers player in "Monday Night Football" history.

Well, the recently single Sparks took notice ... posting, "Le'Veon Bell is just a beast. Titans D cannot contain him."

She then reposted Le'Veon's stat line ... adding, "Again, beast."

Bell -- who also appears to be single -- was all about it and tweeted back at Sparks ... "I see @JordinSparks liked the way I played last night."

Total cyber-flirting, right?

For the record, Sparks is a huge football fan (her dad is ex-NFL star Phillippi Sparks) .... and after things ended with Jason Derulo earlier this year ... we asked if Phillippi would be cool with his daughter dating a football player. She gave an interesting answer.

As for the twitter-flirting ... we'll keep an eye on it.

NFL legend Terry Bradshaw tells TMZ Sports he doesn't believe Justin Bieber jinxed the Pittsburgh Steelers ... but he does have an issue with JB at the team prayer service the night before the game.

As you know ... the Steelers lost to the lowly NY Jets this weekend -- and a lot of people are blaming the "Justin Bieber Curse" since he joined the team for a pregame prayer ceremony Saturday night.

"It's automatically assumed he's a jinx," Bradshaw says. "That's ridiculous."

But it's what Bradshaw said next that was interesting ... "Would Bieber be a disruption? Well, I wouldn't have had him there."

"The only time I recall the Steelers teams I played on letting outsiders worship with us was at the Super Bowl ... and it was with our families because they traveled with us."

Bradshaw says he takes his bible study very seriously -- and believes the purpose of a private prayer ceremony for NFL teams is to keep the focus on god.

So, when a huge megastar like Bieber walks in the room ... "Your focus isn't where it should be."

Age means NOTHING to James Harrison -- especially when it comes to brute strength -- 'cause the Steelers linebacker just knocked out a set of push-ups with a 304 lb. lineman on his back!!

The 36-year-old superstar -- one of the oldest guys in the NFL -- let teammate Maurkice Pouncey sit on his back while he got some chest work in during a gym session early Tuesday morning.

Do the math ... 275 (Harrison's weight) + 304 (Pouncey's weight) = STRONG.

Of course, Harrison came out of retirement to rejoin the Steelers this season and absolutely KILLED IT this weekend ... single-handedly terrorizing Ravens QB Joe Flacco all game long.

Then again, James never really stopped working out ... the guy was pushing serious weight in the Steelers gym even before he officially resigned with the team.

#Beast