It's not a mere mention, she knows what she's talking about. Oda wouldn't have made her say it if he didn't want to make the readers see it that way.
You don't have to stay knocked down for days to declare you've lost a fight. For all we know, it could be an attack weaker than Dressrossa Luffy's G4. That won't prove anything in the grand scheme of things. We're blowing this out of proportion for no apparent reason.
The admirals aren't end-game materials, they're just major antagonists just like the Yonko. Everyone already knows this. If they don't know it already then they're not paying attention. There is no need to drag down the Yonko to prove the admirals are great. If you do that, you aren't any more logical than the Yonko fanatics at this point.
Doffy, Katakuri, and Kid have awakened their DFs. All of them are stronger than Lucci. Pit them and Lucci against Kaido, he'd wash them. So it doesn't matter if he has awakening or not.
