They do, it is called "ditching" but I take your overall point.
If you read this thread throughout, you will see this has been discussed ad nauseum
Judgment (even underlined) means little in itself. There is good judgment and bad judgment. The judgment in one of your examples resulted in the safe ditching of an airliner in the most difficult, unexpected and unusual of circumstances.
The argument being tendered here is whether disregarding a set of lawful instructions for no particularly good reason other than to satisfy a whim constitutes good judgment.
If procedures or rules are going to be discarded in favour of an alternative course of action, then it is implicit that there needs to be a good reason or imperative for such action. The question being discussed here relates to whether that good reason or imperative is really satisfied by a commander electing to entertain a footballer on the flightdeck of an airliner in violation of clearly mandated legal instructions to the contrary.
You are quite correct in that the pilot is there to excercise discretion, judgment, experience and skill. Hence this discussion and the various contributions, argument and opinion.