Maybe I'm wrong here, but I'm going to assume that Google did its due diligence, came up with a value to bid on the patents (that includes future costs of law suits, royalties owed/earned, as well as new technologies derived from the patents) and made that bid.

In that case, what their opponents pay (or perhaps, overpay) is no longer Google's concern. That's the mindset you have to take in an auction.