If you happened to flip your TV to TBS on Sunday night, right after CBS revealed the NCAA Tournament bracket, you probably saw the opening scene from “The Blind Side,” a frame-by-frame view of Lawrence Taylor’s bone-breaking hit on Joe Theismann.

The phenomenon of an offensive line needing to protect its quarterback, contrary to the movie, pre-dates that hit and goes back to the time the forward pass was first introduced. The term “happy feet” wasn’t invented as a way to describe Maty Mauk bailing from the pocket.

But certain quarterbacks are jumpier than others, and Mauk falls clearly in the former category. More comfortable throwing on the run, with a sore shoulder and a sometimes-leaky offensive line, Mauk saw phantom pass rushers at times toward the middle of last season. A typical play saw him bailing sometimes just two or three seconds after taking a snap.

Mizzou must continue to allow Mauk to roam, as he made some of his best plays downfield last year while improvising and playing back-yard football. But Mauk will be a better quarterback if he learns how to stand and deliver inside the pocket as well. The Tigers coaches can drill Mauk on pocket passing as many hours as they want this spring — and Mauk does need to learn to stay calmer under pressure — but once bodies are buzzing around him in the fall, at some point he’ll revert to old habits.

That’s why it’s so crucial that Missouri’s offensive line do a more consistent job in pass protection.

“One thing with Maty, with no height advantage, if he gets hit once early, it’s his nature as a quarterback to try to get out of there,” Connor McGovern said, according to the Kansas City Star. “We need to try to make sure he keeps that trust in us. That’s our job, and it’s nothing against him. He’s out there trying to make plays and score us touchdowns.

“We’ve got to keep him clean. … Games when we kept him clean, he stayed in there and made those plays he can make as a pocket passer. … You can just see it in film. If we keep him clean from the start of the game, he trusts us more, and it makes for better cohesion. But it’s not just us five having cohesion. It’s the whole offense, all 11 of us.”

Last year, offensive line coach A.J. Ricker was a late staff addition after Bruce Walker retired in early July. It was just his second season as a position coach at an FBS power-conference school. Then Anthony Gatti tore his ACL against Indiana, and McGovern moved back to guard after he wasn’t as effective at right tackle.

The core of this year’s line will be Evan Boehm at center and McGovern at right guard, a powerful run-blocking combination that helped Missouri nearly produce two 1,000-yard rushers last season. With McGovern and since-graduated Mitch Morse setting all sorts of weight-room records, the team has no problem churning out bulldozers on the offensive line. But it needs some more athletic pass protectors.

That’s why it would be such a boon for this offensive line if Malik Cuellar, an early enrollee and junior college transfer, proves capable of starting at left tackle and protecting Mauk’s blind side. That would allow Taylor Chappell to return to right tackle and prevent mass shuffling on the offensive line, as four positions would remain the same as they were late last season.

Senior left guard Brad McNulty is out due to labrum surgery, but should be installed as the starter when he’s healthy. For now, Mitch Hall is practicing with the first team at left guard, Chappell is manning the left tackle spot and sophomore Clay Rhodes is listed as the starting right tackle.

But a line of Cuellar, McNulty, Boehm, McGovern and Chappell would feature four seniors who have played together for a long time. That would be a big benefit to the Tigers’ spread offense, making Mauk more comfortable while he waits for a group of inexperienced receivers to get open.

According to the Columbia Tribune, Mauk is wearing an “I <3 The Offensive Line” bracelet during spring practice. He got it at the Manning Passing Academy last summer and joked with a reporter that he may have taken it off for a few weeks during the middle of last season.

If the offensive line is more consistent this season — which may require Cuellar to prove he’s the man at left tackle, Ricker to settle in as the position coach and the unit to stay healthy — it will take a lot of pressure off Mauk, literally and figuratively.