The distraction was much more likely to be the rather questionable procedure of getting the Captain to review the Take-Off briefing during taxying. This entails a check of the Flap setting, the N1, the speeds and the initial SID, among other items, all of which have to be read directly from the FMC. My contention has been that this review of the briefing should be carried out by the FO but for some inexplicable reason it has fallen on deaf ears.
This full takeoff brief should be done in the chocks in my opinion. You need two (or three) sets of eyes outside while you are taxiing, not someone buried on a screen down low reading off numbers and power settings. Almost everything but the flaps should be set prior to blockout and they will be double checked on a before takeoff checklist at most carriers. The old excuse for waiting until the last minute before takeoff for the brief was to get it on the 30 minute CVR tape. New CVR's hold a lot more data, I'm more interested in preventing the crash than documenting it (I realize others lean in the opposite direction). You can always give a quick verbal review of the brief and scan the configuration just before takeoff. There are a lot more runway incursions and excursions than flaps up takeoffs these days, taxiing is a very critical phase of flight in these times of busy airports.