it's not hard  to "over-rotate" those DC9/MD80's.
As you retard the throttles the nose will rise by itself, due to the engines located on the aft of the fuselage. That combined with yoke input can be dangerous

Just to add something: The pilots are proffesionals and I'm sure he had a reason (gusting winds maybe) for the high nose-up pitch, the captain is very well aware of which pitch angle he cannot exceed or else he'll have a tailstrike