PukinDog’s interpretation is the one that most matches mine. This wasn’t some slick CDA à la LHR, where one must manage one’s speed whilst going downhill. I don’t fly the jumbo, but on my heavy dropping the gear 1nm or 1/2 scale below glide path from 180kts would get you back to 160 to go down at. Who knows - perhaps Nigel had a raging tailwind at 2000ft. But I doubt it.
Hearing one of my colleagues adopt such a tone with atc also makes me cringe. I’m not as au fait with FAA regulations as he obviously is, but given that the aircraft ahead was cleared down to 2000ft - and possibly significantly faster - perhaps the break-off instructions were the only way to avoid a loss of separation. One of the big advantages of atc in the USA is that they have available to them and frequently use the option of visual separation and visual approaches which often take the sting out of these situations. Alas in IMC it’s not so easy.