I think the point they were making is that it illustrates all the things that make Gambit great as well as his flaws. Here he is going up against the iconic Captain America and he doesn't flinch. He's the same cocky dude with the swagger that says to him he can take down the leader of the Avengers. At the same time that cockiness and swagger is what ultimately leads to his defeat as he doesn't quite get the charge right to completely knock out Cap.
From an objective viewpoint, I can see their point and actually agree with it for the most part. It's always bothered me a bit that Gambit seemingly knows the exact durability of his opponents to know that using 52 cards on Gladiator is going to merely knock him out rather than kill him outright. No matter how skilled someone else, they can't really know the full limits of an unknown opponent. So without knowing exactly how durable Cap is, it's entirely possible for him to get the charge wrong particularly if we assume that Gambit is going to err on the side of caution as he generally doesn't want to kill anyone.
Why I ultimately still hate this scene is how dismissive Cap is of Gambit. I think at one point he's on the phone shooting the sh*t with Iron Man and he acts like Gambit is no real threat to him. Considering Gambit could easily have gotten the charge wrong by putting too much in it, I think that attitude from Cap makes no sense as Cap could have easily been killed.
So I agree with the author's larger point but I think it ignores the fact that the scene is poorly executed.
With that said, we all know he also wasn't trying to kill Cap... at least, I don't think so, but I'm not sure how you can turn someone's shirt into a bomb and not expect to kill them (comic book logic). I'm not against him losing. It makes sense, and to be honest, the fight could have gone either way. However, I believe it would have made more sense for Gambit, who's only trying to slow Captain America down, to retreat once he detonated his clothes. Him getting knocked out like some chump was just jarring. Going a little further, Captain America has been around so long, he is an icon, but up until that point he was never some invincible force. That was amped up thanks to Marvel's success with the Avenger's movie. I just sucks the X-Men got the short end of the stick. Just like they are with the Inhumans (this crossover seems a bit better written). The X-Men seem to be the stepping stones for the company.