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Study: Did Pittsburgh Just Assemble The Best Deep-Ball Wide Receiver Duo?

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Study: Did Pittsburgh Just Assemble The Best Deep-Ball Wide Receiver Duo?


While many would consider it past due, the Pittsburgh Steelers made a huge splash at wide receiver with the trade for DK Metcalf. He’s the type you build in Madden NFL, the ideal physical specimen who strikes fear in the opposition.

One of the best parts of Metcalf’s 2024 season was the 6-4, 235-pounder as a vertical threat. Here is a chart on deep receiving (20-plus yards) last season, including targets and Pro Football Focus (PFF) deep-receiving grades:

Metcalf tied for the most deep targets among NFL receivers (32) with Washington’s Terry McLaurin. Also, three WRs tied for the best 99.9 deep-receiving grade – the aforementioned two and George Pickens.

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This also came on high volume, Pickens right behind them with 31 deep targets. So, Metcalf and Pickens were two of the best quality and quantity deep-ball WRs in the NFL last year per PFF.

This potential is quite exciting, with two excellent talents to open up the passing game and the rest of the offense. There is, of course, the question of how Pickens feels about the move, worst-case angling for a trade like his new teammate. Knock on wood that’s not the case.

To add more context to the grades, here are deep-receiving yards and touchdowns:

Metcalf lands comfortably above the mean in both. His five deep touchdowns tied for second most among qualifiers, and 489 deeps yards ranked fourth last season. He joins forces with Pickens, who led the NFL in deep yards (577) in 2024. Wow!

Assuming the duo remains, the pairing presents a daunting task for opposing teams, namely defending the deep ball. Sure, the volume will likely change, but adding another top deep threat, including TD production (which Pickens lacked in comparison) is enthralling.

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Of course, Pittsburgh has a big question at the all-important quarterback position, a critical element to the topic. Those dominoes are falling, including former Steeler Justin Fields agreeing to a two-year, $40 million contract with the New York Jets.

If moon balls are your goal, 2024 Steelers starter Russell Wilson is known for just that. Plus, being a former teammate of Metcalf’s in Seattle is a strong dot connect for a potential return, though Pittsburgh’s five-game losing streak and dip in play to end 2024 left a bad taste.

The flipside is a player of Metcalf’s caliber makes any passer’s life easier. Most “upgrade” free agent QBs are off the board, and Wilson’s forte as a deep passer (NFL-best 97.3 deep-pass grade of 2024) aligns with the new-look Steeler WR room.

It’s great to see Pittsburgh’s aggressiveness, breaking historical team precedents, with the Metcalf deal. It was a shocking move in the best way possible, and on paper has the potential to create the most prolific deep-ball receiving duo in the NFL.

Here’s to hoping it transpires that way and has the Steelers’ offense humming in 2025.

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Man’s body found underneath trailer behind former Shop ‘n Save in Carrick

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Man’s body found underneath trailer behind former Shop ‘n Save in Carrick



Pittsburgh Police detectives are investigating after a man’s body was found underneath a trailer behind the former Shop ‘n Save store in the city’s Carrick neighborhood.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said late Monday night that detectives from the Violent Crime division responded to the area of Amanda Street and Wynoka Street in Carrick after a man’s body was found around 8:30 p.m.

Public Safety said the man’s body was found underneath a trailer and that he was pronounced dead by medics at the scene.

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Pittsburgh Police detectives are investigating after a man’s body was found underneath a trailer in the city’s Carrick neighborhood on Monday night.

Pittsburgh Public Safety


A photo provided by Pittsburgh Public Safety shows officers surrounding a taped off area and what appears to be a refrigerated trailer parked at the loading dock along Amanda Street behind the former Brownsville Shop n’ Save, which closed its doors last month

No details surrounding the circumstances of the man’s death were provided by Public Safety, who said that the cause and the manner of the man’s death will be determined by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

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The man’s identity has not been released.

Public Safety said the investigation into the man’s death is “ongoing.”



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Record number of peregrine falcons counted in Allegheny County

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Record number of peregrine falcons counted in Allegheny County



In the early 1960s, the peregrine falcon population declined so sharply that the raptors weren’t even nesting in Pennsylvania. But now, the National Aviary says a record number have been counted in Allegheny County.

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The National Aviary says six peregrine falcons were recorded in the county during the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The nation’s longest-running citizen science project collects data on bird populations for ornithologists, the aviary says. It also plays a role in guiding conservation action, like what was needed to bring peregrine falcons back from the brink of extinction. 

Because of the use of DDT, peregrine falcons were no longer nesting in the state of Pennsylvania by the early 1960s, the aviary said. But after the harmful pesticide, which negatively affects reproduction rates in birds, was banned in 1972, conservation efforts have helped the peregrine falcon rebound. It was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999 and Pennsylvania’s list in 2021. 

The record number of peregrine falcons in Allegheny County is thanks in part to the nest on top of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning in Oakland. For the past two years, biologists with the Pennsylvania Game Commission have banded chicks born in the nest. Three were banded last year, and two the year before that. 

People can watch Carla and Ecco raise their family in the nest on a livestream camera run by the National Aviary. Carla laid her first egg of the breeding season on March 16 last year, so the aviary says the start of another season isn’t too far away. 

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Police investigating two late-night McKeesport shootings

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Police investigating two late-night McKeesport shootings



Police are investigating two shootings that happened less than 30 minutes apart on Sunday night in McKeesport. 

Two men were injured in the shootings that happened at two different locations. 

Allegheny County Police said that the department’s Homicide Unit was requested and responded to assist in the shooting investigations.

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According to police, officers were first called to the area of Lysle Boulevard and Huey Street, where a man was shot just after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.

KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw the outside of the Sunoco gas station along Lysle Boulevard lined with crime tape and what appeared to be blood on the front door of the store. 

Police are investigating two late-night shootings that happened in McKeesport on Sunday. Officers were called to a gas station along Lysle Boulevard and an alleyway near Madison Avenue around 30 minutes apart Sunday night.It’s unclear at this time if the two shootings are related or connected.

KDKA Photojournalist Bryce Lutz

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Police also had an area taped off around the intersection of nearby 5th Avenue and Huey Street.  The man who was shot in the area was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Police said they are also investigating a shooting that happened in the area of an alleyway behind Madison Avenue, where another man was shot Dispatchers said the second shooting happened around 25 minutes after the first.

The two shooting scenes in McKeesport are located around 1/4 of a mile apart.

At the second shooting scene, KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw police taping off an alleyway between Madison Avenue and Petty Street. 

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Police are investigating two late-night shootings that happened in McKeesport on Sunday. Officers were called to a gas station along Lysle Boulevard and an alleyway near Madison Avenue around 30 minutes apart Sunday night.

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KDKA Photojournalist Bryce Lutz


Officers at the scene were shining flashlights and looking into a black sedan that had its flashers on.  The man who was shot in the area of Madison Avenue was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Police didn’t specify if the two shootings are believed to be related.



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