This cell had the ability to turn that 16 knot tailwind into 50 knots in the blink of a eye.
Just as the minimum headwind component for the Delta when given take-off clearance could have similarly turned into a 16 knot tailwind as it accelerated down the runway and a 50 knot tailwind as it rotated.
It’s good to be lucky but luck eventually runs out.
Well yes, but were they "lucky"? That's quite a damning statement aimed at four fellow professionals.
You've had your say and made your point. It may be valid and it may not. You were not sitting in either of those cockpits.