Kinda disappointed by PJ's reference to setting FD modes and such.
Fer chrissakes, attitude and power and an understanding of the aero for your jet should dictate what control inputs you make, and not the flight director or its modes.
Again, I do not advocate the crew reverting via a switch to "direct" law.
The final report makes a case for concern by the crew with overspeed. I can understand that. One thing that happens when the mach gets too high is aileron reversal, and this could have been a concern. Nevertheless, the report clearly mentions over and over the inapropriate application of back stick.
A shameless plug for the primitive FBW system and control laws I flew for 4 years - our AoA was related to the gee command. So at the max allowable AoA we could not command more than one steekeeng gee! The nose could not be commanded for a further rise, and the tail surfaces would be commanding for nose down. So we sat there with full back stick and 27 degrees AoA and one gee until we pushed forward on the stick. Falling like a rock, but we could command less than one gee and gain energy and the fight was still on.
Gotta go....