Yeah, they're professionals, they churn out content constantly. I'm willing to bet that you can write 500-1000 words in your native language in the same time about any topic.
You can hop onto a lot of freelance sites and find writers that will write under 1000 words for not much.
>To be relevant for HN, you can’t just copy/paste the news item.
Yeah, some parts are perhaps copied/pasted. As you say, their tips include the way to shorten the time of creating an article. That should be the reason they expressed not "write an article" but "create an article".
My additional opinion is that his long life as a player is related to his partner. Tom Brady's partner is Gisele Bündchen aka a super model. He and his partner has a common incentive for their health. This is the reason why Tom Brady has less injuries, I believe.
Anyway, their strategy is one of the popular ways of content marketing. But each step has something new in detail. Good takeaways!