Mark Craig's Sunday Insider: Kicking is running like clockwork

Here's how precise some facets of the NFL have become:

Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell had 49 place-kicks in 2010. On 47 of them, long snapper Cullen Loeffler delivered the ball to holder Chris Kluwe with the laces facing forward between the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock position.

"That's like 96 percent [95.9], which is amazing," Longwell said. "That's why he's the best in the league at what he does."

Getting the ball to Kluwe in that position means Kluwe doesn't have to take long to adjust the ball, if at all. And that means Longwell gets a longer look at the ball, not to mention the confidence that comes with knowing that the ball will seemingly always arrive between the 10 and 2 o'clock position.

"Actually," Loeffler said, "more often than not, it's getting there between 11 and 1 o'clock."

Hey, the guy knows his trade. He knows things like exactly how many rotations the ball will take when it leaves his hands and arrives in Kluwe's hands.

"Three and three-quarters," Loeffler said. "It also helps that Chris knows to catch the same way every time and not reach for it or wait too long for it."

Longwell and Loeffler are signed through 2014, while Kluwe's deal is up in 2013.

"That's one of the main reasons I re-signed after last season," said Longwell, who has missed just four of 56 field goal attempts the past three years. "You just don't see the kind of continuity that we have in the NFL today."

According to STATS LLC., there's never been a snapper-holder-kicker combo stay together longer than the one currently cranking it out at Winter Park.

Loeffler has played in 117 consecutive games since he beat out Brody Heffner-Liddiard as a rookie free agent in 2004. He seems certain to surpass Mike Morris' 144 consecutive games, a team record for a long snapper.

"Cullen is one of those guys, if you're not careful, you'll take him for granted because of the position he plays," coach Leslie Frazier said. "But as soon as you don't have someone operating in the fashion that he does, you're searching for one."

"I'm not sure how many times I've snapped a football," Loeffler said. "Ballpark? A million times."

Longwell wouldn't argue with that guesstimate.

"I look at it this way," Longwell said. "Kicker, punter and long snapper are the three jobs that everybody who watches the NFL says, 'Oh, I could do that.'