Maybe the "whooler" shouldn't have been eliminated, but I'm not at all sure that would have made any difference here.
It might have though...
I think a THS position trim
clacker might well have alerted PNF to something going very awry in pitch much earlier and at least have glanced at the wheel or pointed the Captain to it immediately upon cockpit re-entry ?
.. even if PF himself was 'focused down a very narrow tunnel of perception' and would likely have been aurally blocking it out.