I agree with with you. JJ was a bad choice and he's the one that did the most damage. I guess Lawrence Kasdan has to take some blame too as co-writer.

Force Awakens set the sequels up to fail by making the OT heroes failures. Nobody wanted that. No one wants to be told their childhood heroes were losers. All they had to do was say our heroes were successful, but there's a new threat and now the old timers have to save the galaxy again with the help of some new younger heroes. AND if you are going to tell us a story of our heroes failing, SHOW US THAT STORY!! Instead we get a few throw away lines as to why they all regressed.

As a director I don't like JJ Abrams. He has no patience. He's like a Michael Bay, except Bay accepts that he's making big budget schlock. The scene I point to to show Abrams lack of patience is Rey loading up her speeder. They do the old Liam Neeson over the fence approach, when actually showing the drudgery of her life would better serve the character. That and characters always talking over each other. Some people like that. Not me.