Maroczy Crush

PLAYING in the U180 afternoon tournament at the annual 'Paignton' congress, nowadays held at the Livermead House hotel on the outskirts of Torquay.
I was horribly crushed in round one by a lower-graded opponent when I became too passive in a Maroczy Bind.

White has just played 16.Be3-b6 in Megan O'Brien (153) - Spanton (167)

I played 16...Rd7, when the forcing sequence 17.e5 Ne8 18.Bc5 Qd8 19.Na4 would have left me in all sorts of trouble.
Instead the game saw 17.f5 dxe4 18.fxe6 fxe6? (18...Qxe6 was better) 19.Bc5 Qd8 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.Rxe4 with a large advantage for White 1-0 (29 moves)
Going back to the diagram position, it seems I should have sacrificed the exchange with 16...dxe4! eg 17.Bxd8 Rxd8 18.Nxe4 Nxe4 19.Rxe4 c5 and Black is at least equal thanks to the threat of ...Bd4.
Indeed my main analysis engines, Stockfish9 and Komodo9, reckon White should decline the exchange, certainly at first, and instead play 17.Bxe4! Nxe4 18.Nxe4 c5. They give White a slight edge after 19.Kh1, 19.Bxc5 or belatedly grabbing the exchange with 19.Bxd8.