Lexical figurative use asks whether a word is employed outside the meaning conventionally assigned to it. Intellectual or predicative figurative use asks whether an action or quality is attributed to a subject that is not its actual bearer.
Calling a brave man a “lion” raises a question about the noun’s reference. Attributing an event to a grammatically stated but not actually responsible agent raises a question about predication. The two can interact, but they are not the same analytical issue.
Implicit metaphor is difficult precisely because one theory emphasizes shifted lexical designation, while another emphasizes imagined attribution. An accurate reading needs to distinguish them.