Chaps,
Perhaps there is a misunderstanding of Notadogs thoughts and comments. I am able to look at what he has written and think of a few possible reasons he may write what he writes. Notadog may be able to clarify his meanings.
For instance, both PF and PNF may not have been able to remove their hands from the control yokes due to the forces required to have control of the yoke. I don't know. I do know that the forces required for pushing the yoke forward are significantly less than pulling the yoke back. With the aircraft achieving the attitudes and velocities it did I am not sure what forces would be required.
Perhaps Notadogs is alluding to the fact that the pilots, psychologically, may not have got to the stage where they had thought of reducing thrusts and hoped that maximum thrust might be the only solution.
There could be other reasons. For instance how valid are Leadsleds comments in this situation?