
Such eloquent thoughts!
To jump off your point regarding how the quad impacts a program on the whole, I think that speaks to the fact that while more men can do the jump, they haven't
mastered/owned the jump. To the point where they hit it with consistency and to the point where the rest of their program stays intact.
IMO, I can only name four people that I think who has truly mastered it: Hanyu, Chan, Fernandez and Machida. They also happen to be among the top 4 in personal best free skate scores with 180+.
Daisuke has never mastered the quad (though he landed it a few times) but his strong second mark (well deserved) is what kept him in the game. (i.e. staying at least in in the 170s.)
Takahito Kozuka hasn't quite mastered it either. His 180 score came the one time it did (2011 World Championships) but the rest of his scores show he hasn't quite been there with the quad.
I do think there are other guys who will join those four on the list, but the fact is that Jason is behind on the quad, but he's ahead in a lot of ways that cancel out any advantage these other quad guys have.
And the advantage, IMO, is quite small because a lot of them lack the consistency (except for those four guys I mentioned) to do it day in and day out in EVERY SINGLE PROGRAM.
If that changes, i.e. more guys get part of the day-in/day-out quad squad, then perhaps Jason and Kori need to get crackin', but as we saw here--- we saw the guys hit quads to only pop or miss jumps later.
IMO, the bigger factor at this point -- Jason's record on the 3A. That is what kept those guys ahead of him otherwise. That's why you see Jason going for a 3A in the second half. That's why Hanyu can still score in the 90s even with botching the 4S nearly every time this season. Or heck why he can still score 90+ depite botching BOTH his quads. Because he can do two beautiful 3As that score nearly +3 in GOE and have them both on the second half on top of that. (which is what happened at Trophee Eric Bompard last season).