As a non-pilot, I may be talking out of my khyber*...but surely,in these times of high fuel-costs, they should have throttled-back miles before and then "coasted" down, using all that expensively -bought energy , rather than "dump" it via speedbrakes, Gear-drag etc (presupposing it worked and they didn't need to burn even more on a go-around) still an expensive and inefficient way to get down.
look on the bright side....better than too low and slow!
* Khyber Pass... = .Ass