Just a guess but I pressume the A/T arm in the preflight is to bring the procedures in line with other types in the boeing family.
My company has just adopted Boeing SOP and it seems to be the case that every fleet will have as close to as identical procedures as possible - whether it suits the fleet or not.
The Aim is for Mixed Fleet Flying between 737/757/747/777... Boeings "Holy Grail".... or Mecca...delete as appropriate.