I would agree on a larger variety of animations, assuming the animations themselves were greatly simplified. One side of the problem is not having a proper animation to be triggered, but I think the bigger problem is that many of the animations are too drawn out to begin with. I'm sure we've all been in perfect position to make a play, but once the animation slide show begins, it's impossible to compensate... and players start to feel they've been 'jobbed'. That is just about the worse thing that a video game can do... regardless if the end result looks just like the real thing when watching it in slo-mo after the fact from limitless replay angles.
Now 2k5 was generally hot garbage in the AI department, the overall mythic status of that title is overblown... But it just passes the eye test at game speed in most player model v player model interactions because it is a less canned approach. If you were in a position to make a play on a pass or a tackle you were never animated out of the way because the dice roll behind the curtain decided that 45 frames of "lunging reception" trumped your stick skills. That didn't mean you would always make the play you were in position for... but at least you didn't feel robbed by the gif loops.