Tony Soprano, a fictional protagonist portrayed by actor James Gandolfini in the crime drama series The Sopranos (1999 to 2007), was a doting father, a loyal friend, and a man who could turn from charming to terrifying in the time it takes to honk a horn. According to October Gonzalez, her husband, Kansas City Chiefs legend Tony Gonzalez, has a similar switch.

During a recent sit-down on the No Safe Words Podcast, hosted by the couple themselves, Tony Gonzalez’s wife shared honest thoughts about her husband’s driving.

“You take on a very weird personality behind the wheel,” October said. “It’s like you’re one person in regular life and then you become like this gangster behind the wheel. You’re like, ‘You cut me off? Nice, buddy. Nice, buddy. Nice one.’ It’s just wild. You’re like so calm and so zen in real life. And then you get behind the wheel of a car and you turn into a f**king [Tony] Soprano.

“I’m like, ‘I don’t know who this person is.’ And you’re so aggressive. I mean, you’ll literally roll down your window and give the guy next to you a thumbs up for cutting you off. You’re like, ‘Nice, nice.’ I’m like, ‘What is that?’ It’s psychotic, honestly. It’s psychotic.”

Tony Soprano, a fictional character, was an aggressive, distracted, and reckless driver. In the pilot episode of the series, when Soprano spots a man who owes him money, he chases him across an office park lawn, running him down with his car before beating him.

Although Tony Gonzalez doesn’t have any record of road rage or confrontations, his wife finds him very competitive behind the wheel, which, according to her, is quite unlike the former NFL star’s usual demeanor.

After all, Tony Gonzalez and October “Tobie” Gonzalez have been together since 2002 and are aware of each other’s personalities. Tony generally has a well-disciplined, thoughtful, and approachable personality.

For context, his former teammates and coaches often highlighted Tony’s consistency, which has helped him miss only two games in 17 seasons, during his time on the Kansas City Chiefs (1997-2008) and the Atlanta Falcons (2009-2013) roster.

Additionally, Tony has also described himself as a perfectionist who developed a “one-snap” mentality to stay focused in the present and move past mistakes quickly.

“I’m a perfectionist,” Tony said in 2019. “I want to be great and please everybody, and in that process, you’re going to screw up. So what’s really important is that you forgive yourself. I learned that in my second year in the league…

“I had to learn to have what they call a ‘one-snap’ mentality, meaning that each snap or play is its own moment. Whatever happened during that snap, you leave it behind and focus on the next snap. It’s part of being present, but in order to be present, you have to forgive yourself, no matter what.”

That’s how the former Chiefs tight end followed his career and often described his on-field mentality as “controlled aggression”.