Have you thought that the feeling of a high RoD (probably caused by a perception of a nose down body angle) may have been an illusion?
It wasn't an illusion, there were plenty of ground features to relate to and I am an experienced visual pilot (several hundred hours) as well as having paxed on hundreds of airline flights, so I know what is normal and what a steeper descent looks like.
It may well be that when the pitch angle was brough back towards level it was at a much slower rate (which would be hard to detect in the cabin without a horizon to judge it from) thus your body didn't detect it. Thus the illusion of a high RoD.
No, this was at low level and the aircraft was pitched up smoothly, but firmly after the initial high descent - they did use the speedbrake from rolling out onto final to the point where the aircraft was pitched to the usual angle prior to landing.