Wednesday, the Broncos directed their anger outward. Twenty hours after Peyton Manning called out his offense, the Broncos and Texans bubbled to a low boil during a spirited joint practice at Dove Valley.

Manning’s “we stunk” comments brought a predictable response as the Broncos scored on their first two passing plays of the padded practice. The reigning NFL MVP connected on mid-range strikes to Demaryius Thomas and Julius Thomas.

Chatter became louder. At one point, Julius Thomas caught a touchdown pass during drills and blurted, “This is too easy.”

The embers soon grew into a flame.

The trenches can become fire pits, and Wednesday didn’t disappoint. Texans defensive end J.J. Watt squared off with Broncos right tackle Chris Clark. Clark pulled off Watt’s helmet, drawing a flag and Watt’s advice.

“Don’t get mad when you get beat!” Watt said with a strut befitting his all-pro status.

Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib, who plays with relentless energy and vocabulary, got into it with Texans running back Ronnie Brown.

Talib dismissed it as competition.

Safety Rahim Moore painted a more accurate picture of the chippiness.

“When the ball is snapped, there are no friends at all. I don’t care if it’s your twin brother over there,” Moore said. “There’s no friends.”

Texans safety D.J. Swearinger didn’t appear to be sending Manning a Hallmark card as the practice neared closure. He delighted in intercepting the Broncos star.

“We had some choice words at the end. With (our) offense going against their defense, it got a little chippy,” Swearinger said. “It’s all football. Everybody competing. Everybody having real fun. But I think at the end of the day, it’s just some people being mad, you know?”

While the Broncos’ offense rebounded, the defense sputtered a bit. The unit started slowly, though it wasn’t as lopsided as Swearinger’s assessment that the Texans ran the ball “down the (Broncos’) throat.”

These teams don’t meet in the regular season. If nothing else, it makes Saturday’s exhibition game more interesting.

“No, it ain’t all in the family. It’s us against them,” said cornerback Chris Harris, who won’t play this week as he recovers from knee surgery. “They’re not on our team. They are just over here to practice with us.”