Guess what else happened in the second half of the season. No Zeke and no pass protection. I wonder if that factored into his decline? Probably not though, second year QBs are supposed to make play after play with pressure in their face to receivers who struggle to beat 1v1. 14 sacks in the three games immediately following Zeke and Ty's departure sounds like the coaches made all the adjustments they could and Dak still couldn't find a way to get the ball to a guy who can't catch with his hands and another guy who can only run 2 routes. When defenses adapted to Dak's strengths it should've been on him to make a new game plan and adjust for these changes, not the coaches. He should throw for 400 yards and no picks every game regardless of his O-line play and lack of adequate WR play. But if the O-line is playing well and receivers get open, it's because he had all day to throw dink and dunk passes to wide open guys. I'm with the Dak haters now, they are too logical in their evaluation of Dak to argue with.
**A whole lot of sarcasm for those who don't catch it. Just like every other non-top 5 qb, the guy needs players around him. How did Derek Carr play in 2016 vs 2017? Well his O-line played worse, his rushing attack wasn't the same, and other than a handful of games Cooper and Crabtree were spotty at best. But he throws the ball a little prettier and he looks a little different than Dak so his "regression" isn't attributed to him but to the o-line, receivers, poor D, and bad coaching. When teams as a whole get worse typically the QB plays worse too unless they are Brady/Rodgers/Brees. Looks like the Raiders regressed as a whole from 2016 to 2017, but for some reason fans aren't calling for a new QB in the bay. Go figure.