"The conversation lasted most of practice, spilling over from their drills on the field to their water break off the field.

Dolphins running backs Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, being their typically inquisitive selves, began chatting that day in June about the prospect of what they could accomplish during the upcoming season.

''We were trying to think of the last two guys on the same team that had 1,000 yards each -- or whether anybody has done it at all,'' Brown said during a conversation with The Miami Herald two weeks ago. ``We think we can do it.''

When training camp opens at 9 a.m. Saturday, the duo will attempt to prepare itself to reach a goal that has not been met by any NFL tandem in 23 years, something that has not been accomplished in Miami since the perfect season of 1972.

Statistically speaking, the feat certainly seems reasonable. Each back would need to average 16 carries per game and 4 yards per carry, which really isn't all that unrealistic given the Dolphins' expected emphasis on the running game this season.

But, historically speaking, it is a different story.

''A lot of things need to come together for that to happen,'' said Earnest Byner, the running backs coach for the Tennessee Titans.

Byner knows. In 1985 with the Cleveland Browns, he and fullback Kevin Mack became only the third tandem in NFL history to accomplish the task. And believe it or not, no other pair of running backs has done it since.

Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris did it for the Dolphins in 1972, which is even more impressive because Jim Kiick added 521 rushing yards that year. And Franco Harris, along with Rocky Bleier, pulled it off with the Steelers in 1976.

But that's it."