Skallagrim is a medieval combat enthusiast and generally does his research very well, and yes, when making a game that is suppoused to FEEL good and enjoyable, one cannot have 100% realism. Treating such sources (and other like Lindybeige etc.) as advice is imho a good idea. And since this is precisely what it's called - an ADVICE for ANIMATORS, that's how it's related to M:BG development.
Even if he only criticises Ryse combat, it doesn't mean his advice can't be taken by devs of a game with directional combat, if not for specifics then just for the "general" way of handling animations.