He was targeted as 'the other guy', but that doesn't take away the fact that the system still made it more difficult inherently to be successful. Despite whoever they decided to pass against, they still had the pressures of Thomas rolling over the middle, a vastly successful Dline controlling the LOS.
It's not about the fact that he was targeted and succeeded and therefore the argument was moot, it's that the pressures of the system likely made his job a lot easier.
Not arguing that this is exclusively the case here, but he's been overpaid so far.