"The build-up for the All Blacks, there won't be paranoia. It's just another game."
I could have made a personal defence that I am not among the blanketed "you guys" crowd, as this weekly diatribe of mine has hopefully shown.
But Jeff's words did get me thinking of how under the pressure of meeting current deadlines, searching of nuggets of gold amongst the trickle of information from a PR-managed coach and team, plus having limited resources to dissect every angle, just how easy it is for my journalistic colleagues in other offices and mediums to stick to the overly simple, tried-and-true narrative.
Coincidences and curses make good headlines, however divorced they are from the reality of the current scenario.
NZ Herald writer Michael Guerin was on his own soapbox during Monday morning's Vent webshow with Tony Veitch, slamming the "Millennium Stadium hoodoo" as "rubbish" and a "cheap media beat-up".
When a laughing Veitch started to say "but the storyline this week is ... " a fuming Guerin shut him down.
"It's stupid. The rugby punters in this country deserve better than this gobbledegook.
"What are they possibly nervous about? Ireland just thrashed France at the Millennium Stadium by 15 points.
"Do you think that Freddy [Frédéric] Michalak is under the ground at Millennium Stadium going, 'oh, qui-qui, we try the forward pass again, it worked last time, no problem'.
"The All Blacks will beat France, they're too good for them."
Slamming writers who stick to the simple narrative instead of doing deeper research also got American Sports Center presenter Scott Van Pelt upset at the general news fraternity, who are following the plight of former NBA star Lamar Odom this week.
The 35-year-old came from a troubled upbringing to play 15 diligent seasons in basketball's toughest league - most successfully with the great LA Lakers - while also winning a world championship and Olympic bronze with the US national team.
Yet when Odom, who has had personal problems since his retirement, was found unconscious at a legal Nevada brothel and is now in critical condition in hospital, it seems news outlets thought it best to focus on his four-year marriage to the third Kardashian sister, Khloe, as he appeared in a handful of episodes of that family's umpteenth number of shows.
"Kardashian reality star? No, no, no, no," Van Pelt said about the media's choice of headlines and pigeon-holing to attract eyeballs.
"Lamar Odom, unlike those for whom fame is oxygen, whose fame comes in the absence of accomplishment, his fame was earned."
Van Pelt proceeded to remind his audience of Odom's 2011 Sixth Man of the Year award - given to the best bench player in the entire NBA - plus his two NBA championships and reputation of being beloved by his Lakers team mates during their golden run.
"Passed out in a brothel makes for a hell of a headline and I'm sure quite a juicy episode of TV, but stripped to the foundation, it's just incredibly sad," opined Van Pelt.
"Kardashian reality star? His name is Lamar Odom, and we knew him long before he got married on a TV show that we don't watch."