"This is one I'd like to run through on the simulator..."
I would caution that (obviously) you are not going to get many of the physical cues/distractions in the sim because it will be unable to reproduce any sustained accelerations.
I would also suggest that you will find it difficult to see how the crew managed to get it wrong in this manner without going upstairs and trying it for real (A/P, A/T & AFDS confusion excepted).
As an aside, am I the only one who finds the Boeing-style 'crosshair' type of flight director inferior to the 'v-bar'? You can get a very large 'demand' from the pitch/roll bars when only a small correction is required. On the 'v-bar' directors I have flown with, they show you the correct attitude required by the AFDS at that moment in time, not a 15 degree pitch demand to descend 50 feet. I think the Boeing types also have a time-dependent factor which increases the F/D command.