Not sure if I would generalize that smooth landings equal a good pilot, but in general US carriers seem to have the smoothest landings.

It's funny because the exact opposite has been my experience over the past two days on UA. One landing IAD-ORD also had the brakes applied so strongly that the FA's jumpseat started going up even though she was in it. IAD-TPA we hit the ground bounced back up, and touched down about two seconds later.