But it would have standardized the 757/767 cockpit on smaller aircraft. One of Airbus' selling points in the comonality of cockpit layouts across their whole line of aircraft.
Instead, they put the cockpit in the 757 for their large, single aisle plane, before dumping the whole concept of large, single aisle planes except for the 737 in cattle car configuration where it will hold up to 189 - identical to the maximum on the 727.