It looks like you're reading several things into GP's comment that he did not write. At least I read it completely differently. I.e. that perhaps Mudge's allege

It looks like you're reading several things into GP's comment that he did not write. At least I read it completely differently. I.e. that perhaps Mudge's alleged failure was "not playing ball" regardless of what the particular game might have been in that corporate environment, at that particular time, under/beside those particular execs.