I cannot say what factors JA uses or if he has any special considerations when reviewing the coins sent in, I suspect that given the many tens of thousands of coins he has seen that it is not difficult for him to quickly discern the nice for the grade coins. I would not consider the field chatter an automatic death sentence, over the years it has always seemed to me that the TPG's were rather lenient on that for CC Morgans due to the rough handling they received during transportation from the Carson City mint. I have never heard JA express any thoughts on that issue that I can recall so its very possible that my guesses are overly critical, please update with your results as it will be interesting to see how you do.