"That was quick"
Somewhat quicker, I suspect, than it would have been had there not been major publicity.
"... how to download something from Adobe *without* using the download manager."
Delete "from Adobe" in the sentence and you improve your chances dramatically.
Foxit reader seems pretty good so far -- and unlike adobe's version, I can actually display two PDFs at the same time with it. Adobe Reader was displaying random garbage from another file whenever I double clicked on a PDF while another PDF was open.
"Why does it need JavaScript support in the first place?"
Probably so that it can implement its own spyware. The whole focus of software and communications these days seems to be how much spyware it can get away with while still claiming not to have broken the law.