On the 727-100, it was more of releasing some of the back pressure. On the -200, as others have posted here, more of a forward pressure should be applied. Timing was a little more important on the -200 as well.
With the -100 on short runways (5,000 feet or less) I had mostly surprisingly smooth touch downs with flaps 40. But if on speed, when you pulled the power off with flaps 40, it would stop flying right then. So you really needed to have the height above the runway nailed. Also, the sight picture out of the cockpit was different as well with flaps 40. I never landed a -200 with flaps 40. If the runway was short, we used a -100.
For some bizarre reason, I nearly always got smooth landings on relative short, narrow runway. But on runways like McDill, 14,000 feet and very wide, those landings were more in line of the typical Boeing 727 crash landing. But I never dumped the O2 masks or the life rafts. Rode with a couple of guys that did.