Amen. I have lost count of the number of times where I saw engineering teams taking the full blame for failure where it was middle management dropping the ball

Amen. I have lost count of the number of times where I saw engineering teams taking the full blame for failure where it was middle management dropping the ball with regards to dismissing the massive engineering risks engineering have found with third-party components, vendors, etc. When morale and motivation is in the pits, don't expect miracles or heroics to save the day.