I don't think you get it. Sully thought "out of the box", and saved over a hundred people's lives because of it. I'd wager that 90 plus percent of pilots would not have survived the scenario he faced that fateful day, and that makes him more than an "average airline pilot". And what of the universal praise he received from everyone on the inside and outside of the industry, praise not usually heaped on "average airline pilots"!
Regarding his Airbus criticism, it's all the more believable because he knows the A320 well. He's given this issue a lot of thought. He doesn't have to be "an engineer" -- they are notorious for failing to account for human factors -- like putting a stick in an airliner, that barely moves, moves independently of the other stick, and potentially keeps your inputs hidden from the other pilot!