I know the scenario. I've been there. Sometimes people just want to move on. I've been in meetings where people got annoyed at me asking the "tough" questions and pressing them on their design for an hour. At the end you have to realize technical merit is not the final arbiter, it's mindshare, and that's usually driven by the "chosen" group or favorites.
Team player meant a lot of head nodding, and making each other look great in a previous company.