TEE EMM,
Sorry but i agree to disagree.
In a situation where you are drifting,possibly in a weathervane,deselecting the brakes by Switching the autobrake to the OFF position will dramatically increase your landing distance as your deceleration will be stopped abruptly and possibly end up in an even more unstable position.(aircraft closer to runway edge moving faster).
Also,Boeing has had issues when the A/B was selected manually to OFF,the switch triggered an RTO deceleration!...
Applying slightly and momentarily more brake pressure to release them allows you to maintain better control of your aircraft while releasing the brakes gently with minimum of distance loss.
This technique was preferred to a Boeing company 737 Instructor pilot i talked a few years back when i popped him this question.
He agreed with the manual release of brakes.
Obviously as you do so, glance at the disarm light as we always do during this braking transition, the PNF is also there to annunciate the light as you call for manual braking.