If he stomped the brakes, the airplane would be noticeably nose-down, eh? And why didn't the nose gear tires flatten as well. By my view, not too much weight on the front tire at all.
Doesn't look like the rear struts are fully compressed, so it doesn't appear to be a particularly hard landing.
BE nice to know what really happened here.
True, the nose would dive, but these photos are late in the touchdown sequence, the mains have already blown, so there isn't much stopping power with rims against concrete.
Also, I don't know of an F/A-18 even has nosewheel braking.