BUM PHILLIPS, 90, FORMER OILERS, SAINTS COACH, DIES

Bum Phillips, the folksy Texas football icon who coached the Houston Oilers during their Luv Ya Blue heyday and also led the New Orleans Saints, died Friday. He was 90.

“Bum is gone to Heaven,” son Wade Phillips, who is the Texans’ defensive coordinator, tweeted Friday night. “Loved and will be missed by all — great Dad, Coach, and Christian.” Phillips died at his ranch in Goliad, Texas. Born Oail Andrew Phillips Jr. in 1923 in Orange, Phillips was a Texas original in his blue jeans, boots and white Stetson.

He took over as coach of the Oilers in 1975 and led Houston to two AFC Championship games before he was fired in 1980. Atlanta: WR Roddy White will miss the first game of his nine-year career on Sunday. The four-time Pro Bowl selection was one of three starters listed as out on Friday’s injury report.

White, Atlanta’s career-leading receiver, played the first five games with a sore left hamstring, catching only 14 passes for 129 yards. He hurt his right ankle in a Week 5 loss to the Jets and hasn’t practiced since.

RB Steven Jackson (hamstring) and LT Sam Baker (knee) also won’t play Sunday. New England: Star TE Rob Gronkowski “has now been cleared by all his doctors to play Sunday in the Jets game,” Drew Rosenhaus, his agent, said Friday.

Gronkowski’s return would be very good news for the Patriots, who have struggled on offense, and bad news for the New York Jets, who would have to find a way to stop the