These guys got it back on the ground quickly because they didn't worry about the checklist, they got it on the ground safely. Good for them.
No, they turned what should have been a non-event into a near disaster. It was "got onto the ground" in the most
un-safe manner imaginable!
If they'd followed SOPs and flown a standard EO profile, we wouldn't be talking about it now.
Sometimes the pilots can handle the situation best by their talent and not just doing sop procedures. I like to follow SOP but sometimes I just can't.
Yes, there are times when you have to "think outside the box". A simple, contained engine failure is not one of them. Your performance is predicated upon a) having the gear up and b) at least the power you took off with on the other engine(s); anything else and it's lap-of-the-gods stuff.
It's a good idea to have a "plan B" (and C, D, E...) and to discuss or at least think about what you might do in certain scenarios before you commit to the sky. In the case we're looking at now it really seems like they were making it up as they went along and only through sheer good fortune got it back on the airfield in one piece.
At the point of failure, the aeroplane had the capability to climb to a safe altitude, fly an arrival, execute a missed approach and divert to a safe landing at an alternate airfield. This is what it is certified to do. What possessed the crew on this particular day to go way outside the envelope I'd really like to know... They had two opportunities to get straight back on the ground not long after takeoff but didn't take them, so it can't have been a desperate urge to return to the Earth's surface driving it. As I've said before, what were they thinking?