THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: The mystery key player for Seahawks in showdown vs. Chiefs

How about if I ask you to name the most valuable Seattle player in Sunday's looming battle with Kansas City.

Got an idea?

I predict you'll be wrong, but thanks for playing and drive safely on the way home.

No cocktails with Vanna White after the show.

Really now, who could this mystery star be?

Sam Darnold?

Well, of course the quarterback ALWAYS has a shot at being the hero.

But here we are, two days before kickoff at Lumen Field, and I doubt many of you could name the Seahawks' savior in a critical game.

And brother, this SURELY is as important as it gets with the undefeated Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes in the house, and Seattle's defending Super Bowl champs currently stuck at 3-3.

OK, I won't tease you any further.

The guy I'll be watching — assuming he gets on the field — is right guard Anthony Bradford.

I know, I know.

Bradford's name has been on many tongues this season, but NOT as the guy who helped the Seahawks' offense purr.

He's been on the injury list since Sept. 23, and it's safe to say he wasn't missed.

Bradford is considered a revolving door in the Seattle passing game, and not just by Seahawks supporters. Pro Football Focus ranks him in the bottom quarter among NFL guards.

But.

THERE'S always a but.

In this case, it's a mammoth butt, since it belongs to Bradford and his svelte 6-foot-4, 332-pound frame.

Bradford has been missed.

Truly. 

He's not among the league's elite guards at pass protection, true enough, but he's not terrible — and he's learned the position over his three seasons — to the point that he's assigned to block (or hold) one of the opposition's pass rush monsters every weekend.

Sometimes he misses.

Sometimes he cheats to get a quick jump and winds up being tagged with a penalty.

But not always.

Bradford has learned the art of making defensive tackles (and blitzers) go around him, or face the equivalent of wrestling a grizzy bear.

What really matters, though, is that Bradford helps give Seattle a running game, which is needed desperately.

The big man from LSU can open holes like a road grader.

Seahawks running backs know that Bradford is likely to shove his man about 3 or 4 yards downfield, and that's before a defense can blitz or get into some exotic scheme. 

With Bradford sidelined, teams bypassed Darnold way, WAY too quickly.

That cut down the passing game dramatically, and teams therefore were sitting on the run.

Darnold finally threw the predictable interception — clinching the loss to Denver, for instance, despite Seattle holding the Broncos scoreless in the second half.

The winning field goal came after a three-play possession.

A player like Bradford can almost win a game by himself — except that just doesn't happen in the NFL.

Or at least, it hasn't happened since the late Reggie White was blowing up entire offenses for the Eagles and then Green Bay.

THIS IS a great match Sunday night.

Both teams have to run the ball to stay on the field, and a zillion words have been written or blabbered about how that can happen.

Or not.

Kenneth Walker III, former resident of the greater Seattle area, is running his tail off — having topped 600 yards rushing in just six games.

The Seahawks don't have a star running back, not since they let Walker go to KC and thus gave Patrick Mahomes the weapon he craved.

Seattle coach Mike Macdonald is recognized as a defensive genius, and here's a chance to have that resume cast in stone.

It's assumed that Walker can split the Seahawks defense, chewing up yardage and giving Mahomes a chance to carve up the Hawks with play-action passes.

Think about it.

Mahomes has been able to find receivers (or he's run the precise yardage necessary) despite working with a good-but-not-great offensive line.

And just FAIR running backs.

Now Pat has the league's leading rusher in the backfield with him, and every defense will shudder at the prospect of facing them (and will gush about it before AND after the game).

The strategy is to talk about the Chiefs like they were chiseled in heaven by George Halas.

"We've never faced anything like them!" 

Then you go out, play like madmen, put Mahomes on his back and win by two TDs.

Don't laugh.

It can happen.

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Longtime journalist Steve Cameron writes "The Cheap Seats" for The Press three times each week.