I'm pretty sure that quote is from a Navy guy who flew NSAWC (NAWDC?) Vipers.
I've flown Vipers in combat and A-D Hornets in training doing both blue and red air. The switchology in the Viper is MUCH more user friendly (and yes, the F-35 gets its PVI from the Viper because, well, Lockheed).
There are a few similarities between the jets, but it's not significant. It's kind of like a new Shelby GT500 vs a Camaro ZL1. They're close, but very different.
I wrote a four part article about this on Fightersweep a few years ago.
https://fightersweep.com/1494/hornet-vs-viper-part-one/