I have difficulty in criticizing the captain for being first out of the exit. Just imagine - he's gone back to the cabin to open the exit and get his pax out, his primary responsibility - now there is an open exit. Can you imagine his trying to fight his way back forward in the cabin when the pax REALLY want to exit? I imagine that he was fired out of the exit almost like toothpaste out of a tube.
His other decisions might well have been questionable though IMHO. Real men don't divert!!