This is kind of bull**** because the same time Elliot went out one of the most important players on the offense(Tyron Smith) was also out injured...so yeah when you're missing multiple all pros in your offense it's not going to be very great. This was also the same year we had replaced Leary.
AND the same year that Free retired.
Lost Free, Leary, and then Tyron for a spell. Signs of the Oline weakening were already there in the first 8 games. Offense wasn't quite as crisp. Then when Chaz Green replaces Smith and Zeke went out, those were the final blows to the offense.
It really isn't rocket science. The injuries and defections along the Oline and at WR and TE have been well documented and the performance of the offense, Oline, and Dak have followed that trend. This is all normal, football 101 analysis and what you would expect.
Then you factor in the firing of Alexander in 2018 and the entrance of Cooper and the offense starts back on an upward trend. Pretty simple analysis here.
Oline was great in 2016, good in 2017 until Smith went out, and then marginal at best in 2018.
Sacks given up by the Oline went from 28 to 32 to 51 in those years. All pretty obvious stuff as the trend of the Oline talent has spiraled down.
And Dak was a constant at QB in all 3 of those years. And the less sacks were when he was younger and less experienced. Doesn't take a genius to see that the downward spiral of the Oline is the cause of the problems with sacks and pressure.