xkoote,
Another thing that I find very important. If the MD80 touched down with it's tail first. There MUST be heavy scrapes in the dirt where the MD came down if the reverser was deployed. When the reversers are deployed, they will hit the ground before the tail does. So for me it all reverts back to the no slat takeoff scenario.
Referring to the 4th picture of the link below, showing a deployed reverser:
interviu - portada
What i find peculiar is that only one reverser bucket is warped and wrinkled as if the forward lower edge has been digging in the dirt and is deformed. The other bucket seems rather unscathed. I know it is impossible to draw any definitive conclusions from a single picture but i'm sure the investigators will look into this.
Green-dot