Jay Gruden and Andy Dalton feeling better about the deep ball

Anytime that Andy Dalton attempted a pass over 20 yards last season, the third-year quarterback completed only 26 percent of his passes with a passer rating of 52.9. Expanding to his entire career, Dalton has completed 34.1 percent of his passes measured over 20 yards with a passer rating of 64.3.

It's been an issue that Dalton and Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden have been working on this spring. And they're both feeling pretty good about it.

"The thing was the deep ball going into the spring. We wanted to work on timing and I think we've got a lot better," Dalton said via Bengals.com. "I think I've gotten better throwing the ball. I think the timing is there. Those are some things we definitely got better at."

They've worked extensively on the timing and trajectory, Gruden told Bengals.com.

"We've thrown a lot of them. Some of them he probably wouldn't have thrown in a game, but we're just trying to work the trajectory and timing. I like how it's coming," Gruden says. "We're calling quite a few of them just to get them on tape and getting the receivers running at the right angles so the quarterback can see them. Overall, I think Andy's done a better job of throwing them, plus some really, really good ones. A.J. (Green) has made some plays, obviously, and we're trying to get other guys involved."