I think it was as Cattletruck and SBD said, once he had a ROD on at high weight then it would have been difficult to arrest the ROD and he took the best action of putting it down in a clear area. Certainly don't think it was Vortex ring as the ROD didn't get any worse and the recovery expected would have been nose down into forward flight. Had he continued to try and arrest the ROD with more pitch, then he could have put himself into a VR situation. As has been said, take 5 to calm the nerves and ready to go again as long as there was not over-limiting of the a/c.