@Centaurus it becomes even more weird when you have experienced that the 737 can quite wonderfully use the autothrust in OEI flight as well as keep the rudder where it belongs as well, thus providing full automatic flight. Sadly that is only available below 1500ft during an ILS dual channel approach and during go around until another roll mode is engaged. I'm quite sure the autoflight system could work that way throughout the envelope, but it wasn't certified that way and thus we have to continue impersonating the "one armed paper hangar".
Quite honestly, the non moving thrust lever were surprisingly a non-issue during training and on the line. Except for those rare occasions where one would love to nudge the thrust up a bit for a second or two or pull it back for the same time span. That is much more easily done with a moving thrust lever where one simply overpowers the servos for a bit. Apart from that it really is not an issue. But then, i do work for an outfit where manual, FD off flight is encouraged the same way that manual thrust is during manual flight. Rarely do i see a colleague using AT during manual flight. Easiest way to get there is of course during a phase of flight where thrust is idle anyway, just pull those levers back and there you have it.