CINCINNATI, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Filling in for the injured Corey Dillon in the fourth quarter, Nicolas Luchey ran for two touchdowns Sunday to rally the Cincinnati Bengals to a shocking 20-13 win over New Orleans that badly damaged the Saints' playoff hopes.
Cincinnati faced a 13-7 deficit before the 270-pound Luchey punched the ball into the end zone with a push from rookie tackle Levi Jones with 10:42 to play. But Neil Rackers' extra point attempt was blocked by Grady Jackson and it appeared the Bengals might once again blow a game they had within their grasp.
Cincinnati's defense, however, held firm thereafter and Luchey capped a 12-play, 64-yard drive with a three-yard run up the middle with 1:46 remaining.
"I've been waiting a long time to get my chance," said Luchey, who is in his fourth season with Cincinnati and changed his name from Nick Williams in training camp. "The fans were hyped up. I was hyped up. I didn't want to let anyone down. This is what you dream about as a kid. It was against a great team."
"Nick has always been a guy who could play tailback," Bengals Coach Dick LeBeau said. "Today, we lost two of them (Dillon and Brandon Bennett). I thought he would do OK but he did better than OK. He's done a good job whatever we've asked him to do. He's a Larry Csonka type. He's thick. He's hard to get around."
After the score, Luchey, who wears No. 30 in honor of former Bengal running back Ickey Woods, did an end zone dance approximating Woods' "Ickey Shuffle," which he made famous during the team's run to the Super Bowl during the 1988 season.
"I wanted to give a special shot up to Icky," Luchey said. "He's a friend of mine and I wear his number. I wanted to commemorate what he did for this franchise."
Aaron Brooks then threw four straight incomplete passes to end the Saints' hopes and the Bengals ran out the clock to cap their first home victory of the season. Brooks, who completed 16 of 38 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown, was incomplete on his last 11 pass attempts.
"He struggled," Haslett said of Brooks. "His arm is fine. It was windy out there. The conditions weren't very good. That's no excuse for him, but we didn't execute very well."
"I really can't explain it," Brooks said. "We weren't on the field as much as we would have liked to, but that is part of the game. We have to look at film and evaluate."
New Orleans (9-6), which lost for the second straight week, fell a game behind Atlanta and into a tie with New York in the wild-card race. Only two of the three will make the playoffs and the Giants hold the tiebreaker edge over the Saints.
New York hosts Philadelphia on Saturday while New Orleans will be at home to Carolina and Atlanta will visit Cleveland on Sunday.
"That's what we put ourselves in," Saints coach Jim Haslett said. "We'll deal with that later."
Dillon ran for 126 yards on 18 carries before leaving the game with a bruised left elbow.
Cincinnati (2-13) outgained New Orleans, 423 yards to 210, including 240-36 on the ground.
"With Corey Dillon pounding us all day, it seemed like we wore down a little bit at the end there," New Orleans safety Sammy Knight said. "They brought in that big back (Luchey) about 280, 290 and it seemed like he got four or five yards every time, even after you hit him. No excuses here. We just have to find a way."
"We weren't blocking up front and we weren't executing," said Saints running back Deuce McAllister said, who gained just 26 yards on 15 carries on the choppy field. "There were guys in the holes. If you can't get back to the line of scrimmage, the field doesn't matter.
"If you don't execute, you're going to lose. If you don't block up front, if you don't catch or run the right route, you are going to lose no matter what (the opponent's record is)."
Jon Kitna went 20 of 40 for 190 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions for the Bengals, who snapped a six-game losing streak. Cincinnati has never lost 14 games in a season.
"It was a good game," LeBeau said. "Our guys played through adversity. We all definitely wanted to win one at home. But there was no special effort other than to get a win."
The Saints have given up at least 20 points in every contest this season.
New Orleans trailed, 7-3, before Brooks completed a 57-yard touchdown pass to rookie Donte' Stallworth with 6:19 left in the first quarter. It was Brooks' team-record 27th touchdown pass of the season, breaking a record he shared with Jim Everett.
The plays also gave the Saints a team-record 423 points on the season, breaking by one the mark set by the 1987 squad.
