The F-35 was never meant for the air dominance role. That’s why the US has the F-22 and the Euros built the Eurofighter.
What F-22 do you speak of? The one we no longer make? Russia plans to build and export this thing. We aren’t even building anymore F-22s let alone exporting them. If the T-50 beats the F-35, there’s gonna be problems, especially if it does it for significantly less money than an F35 which seems reasonable to assume at this point. We bet the farm on the F-35.
I agree with what you said. I think just the dihedryl alone on those tails prevents it from being as good as it can be.