Pilotbear,
using automatics was the right thing, to take over and fly when you are out of the loop is a bad thing to do.
I have to say that the last phase of flight when you should be 'out of the loop' is during the final approach. In fact, my company's SOP require the PF to actively stay in the loop with the AP at all times below 2500'
So, using the automatics may have been the right thing to do, but not for the reasons you state, IMHO.