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Many NFL fans were introduced to Zane Gonzalez during the Wild Card Round of the playoffs on Sunday night. The 29-year-old kicker for the Washington Commanders hit a game-winning field goal as time expired to lift his team to victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It was the organization’s first win in the postseason in two decades!
However, people watching at home were even more enthralled by Gonzalez’s antics right before he took the field at Raymond James Stadium. The NBC broadcast showed him take his helmet off to fidget with his hair for a good 30 seconds. He could not get it exactly right.
Zane Gonzalez adjusting his hair feels kinda like golfers with a repetitive waggle pic.twitter.com/bIw7cOJATF
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) January 13, 2025
While most NFL fans attributed the fidget to a nervous tick, like a golfer who waggles for an extended period of time before he or she hits a shot, the behavior actually goes much deeper. There is a medically diagnosed reason for Gonzalez’s jitters.
Zane Gonzalez struggles with OCD.
Gonzalez, whose legal name is Holden Fortunato, is very open about his disorder! The 29-year-old was diagnosed as a child.
It affected me a lot more as a young kid […] It’s just little thoughts, little funny habits that I do.
— Zane Gonzalez, via The Charlotte Observer
At its core, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a mental condition. Those who suffer from OCD experience unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and feel the need to complete/do certain actions and/or rituals (compulsions) to relieve the anxiety attached to the obsessions.
For Zane Gonzalez, it shows up through little behaviors that often change day to day or month to month.
Specifically, sometimes I rinse my hands before kicks. … And I was kind of curious about that. But that’s one of the most common things that people with OCD do. It instantly makes you just feel relieved. I don’t know why, if it’s just a placebo effect. It’s not something I love having. But it just is what it is, and I’ve learned to deal with it
— Zane Gonzalez, via The Charlotte Observer
Although Gonzalez has learned to deal with his OCD, it is something that causes him more problems off of the field than off. In some ways, the disorder actually helps him as a kicker.
It makes you a perfectionist and more detail oriented. Off the field, it’s a pain in the butt.
— Zane Gonzalez, via ESPN Deportes
Zane Gonzalez won the Lou Groza award as the best kicker in college football at Arizona State. He has since played for the Browns, Cardinals, Lions, Panthers and 49ers. Now, eight years into his NFL career, he is a Washington Commanders legend because of his made field goal on Sunday night.
His nerves triggered his OCD which led him to fidget with his hair. And then he doinked it in!