It's cool we both love Star Trek a lot. I'm pretty sure I've watched all the TNG episodes at least twice, and some 3 or more times.
My only major difference of opinion with you is that DS9's last 2 of 3 seasons are probably my favorite Star Trek seasons of them all. Epic war narratives are really hard to beat for me.
But I'd probably give TNG a slight edge over DS9 overall. And yeah, Jean-Luc is a big part of the reason why.