I think it's certainly possible to imply something without saying it. But I think it's important that we don't assume that anybody who doesn't say X is implying

I think it's certainly possible to imply something without saying it. But I think it's important that we don't assume that anybody who doesn't say X is implying X just because they talk about Y which other people use to imply X. Otherwise it becomes impossible to talk about Y. If you think in this specific case that the authors are implying X by saying Y, then you need to explain why you think that.