The reason the 727 had high sinkrate accidents early in its existence had nothing to do with the sweep of it's wings and everything to do with the huge amount of drag generated by the LEDs and flaps in the landing configuration. Basically, as soon as the nose comes up, the speed goes away....fast, and without really changing the descent path of the airplane. If the engines aren't spooled there is no margin for error and even then a late application of power can take what seems to be eons to change the descent path. Being below a couple hundred feet, unspooled, at Vref is a dangerous place in a 727. A fantastic airplane, but it had to be flown like a 727, not just a "swept wing airplane".
The DC8, on the other hand also had a swept wing, was much larger and heavier, and had no unusual high sinkrate tendencies. It also had a different wing section and no LEDs, as well as much smaller (relatively) flaps. It had a much larger margin of error.