Well, perhaps.
But the reason Johnson has paused the deal (apart from for procedural reasons) is, again, that Brexit is not his aim: the election is. He could happily throw Brexit in the bin if it guaranteed an election victory. That's all that he is after.
I mean, I disagree with the strategy on those grounds, as well. Johnson can only secure an election with Opposition support, so he clearly has to work with the opposition at *some* point. Making a concession on the timetabling would certainly give MPs less breathing room to block the thing -- and he now has enough Labour rebels to overcome the loss of the DUP. Getting the Deal through on a slower timetable would still count as a victory, enough to destroy any hopes the Brexit Party had in the GE, and enough to leave Labour and LibDem divided on how best to resist.
How can he not see that?