Houston ? The stirring comeback and spectacular escape were unnecessary this time around. John Elway and Barry Sanders were elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame without a sweat.

As expected, two of the NFL’s most dominating and exciting players made it in Saturday on their first attempt.

Elway, the king of the comeback, and Sanders, the master of escape, cemented their status among the all-time greats and were joined by Bob Brown and Carl Eller.

“Until you said no way, or I was in the locker room taking my uniform off, I was going to try to find a way to win it,” said Elway, the winningest quarterback in NFL history with 148 victories.

“I want to tell every guy I played with, ‘Thanks,'” he said.

Elway played in five Super Bowls, losing the first three then winning two in a row as his 16-year career wound down.

Sanders was the first player to rush for 1,000 yards in his first 10 seasons, leading the league four times. In 1997, he was co-MVP with Brett Favre after rushing for 2,053 yards, only the third player to exceed 2,000 yards in a season. He ran for 100 yards or more in 14 consecutive games.

Sanders retired at 31, in his prime, calling it “the right time.”

Saturday was the right time, too.

“When I think about the Hall of Fame, it seems like that’s something that happens to someone else,” Sanders said. “You think Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, names of that light. To be here, I truly feel, in some ways is a little out of place.”

Speaking about himself and Elway, he said: “They saw something that was unique in us, something they might not see on any old Sunday.”

From left, Carl Eller, Barry Sanders and John Elway pose together after being named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The three gathered Saturday in Houston.

What was unique was that Elway and Sanders made the extraordinary look easy.

“When the game was on the line, he was like Michael Jordan,” said Dan Reeves, who coached Elway in Denver’s three Super Bowl losses. “He wanted the football. In those situations, I don’t know if I know anyone that did a better job.”

Sanders, who never played in a Super Bowl, simply walked away from the game five years ago — even though Payton’s NFL rushing mark of 1,457 yards was well within reach.

“The guy would have held every record in the NFL if he hadn’t retired,” Elway said. “It’s truly an honor to go in with a guy like Barry.”

Brown, a six-time Pro Bowl tackle for the Eagles, Rams and Raiders, was one of the most fearsome blockers of his time. The second overall pick in the 1964 draft, the 6-foot-4, 280-pounder — small by today’s standards — was a dominant player until retiring in 1973.

“I am just flabbergasted,” he said. “I was up all night. It is like waiting on a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. “

Eller, a mainstay of the Minnesota Vikings’ Purple People Eaters defensive line, played 16 seasons and 225 games.

Two other finalists, Dallas tackle Rayfield Wright and wide receiver Bob Hayes, didn’t receive enough votes to get in.