mmm... well it's been six years since I last diced with the auto-brake system and even then I remember there were many misconceptions about it's use but I never noticed that the selector had various selections with the last one annotated (Blow all main tyres)!
Several pilots were reluctant to select "max" even when landing at maximum weight for a limiting runway. As on every landing, they knew not whether the reversers would work until they were on the ground by which time it would have been a little late to make the selection.
We are all second guessing the problem at the airfield under discussion but I doubt that the Captain would have had "max" selected and that even had he done so, at normal landing weights, it would not have been a problem.
More likely a failure in the system?