On NFL Live OT, ESPN's Brian Dawkins and Ryan Clark make their picks on who will win the Sunday afternoon matchup between the Bengals and Browns. (0:27)

CINCINNATI -- Hue Jackson is used to teaching his players a thing or two about offense, but during the past year or so, the Cincinnati Bengals assistant has been learning something from them.

They've been teaching him what it means to be "turnt up."

He appears to have gotten it down.

"Got to get turnt. That's what they teach me," the 50-year-old Jackson said.

Yep, he's got it.

"Either they're going to turnt me or I'm going to turnt them," the Bengals offensive coordinator added.

OK, maybe not quite.

Excluding his addendum, at the heart of what Jackson said during the latter half of a 14-minute conversation with reporters Wednesday was the fact that with the Bengals now legitimately talking playoff-clinching scenarios and postseason seeding, it's time things turn up a notch around the facility. Grind time has arrived.

At 9-2, the Bengals have had plenty to celebrate, but "now is the time to step on the gas pedal, and you don't let off," OC Hue Jackson said. AP Photo/Gary Landers

"That's what I told them this morning. I made that clear. It's time. All the fun stuff is over," Jackson said. "It's been a long season, but this is the grind part of the season. We understand how to do things right. We know what's expected. We know who we're playing, what time we're playing. We know how to travel, we know how to go through the process to get ready for a game. There are no secrets.

"That's just where we are. We're the Bengals, baby, and we better get turnt."

Made popular in a 2009 song from Atlanta-based rappers Roscoe Dash and Travis Porter, the phrase "turnt up" has in recent years become a hip way of describing one's aggressive state of being. For a football team out to make playoff noise for the first time in a generation, being "turnt up" would be a good thing.

"We've got to be playing our best because everybody knows the team that gets hot at the end of the year usually ends up winning the Super Bowl," quarterback Andy Dalton said.

Added running back Jeremy Hill, who made "turnt up" his signature phrase as a rookie last season: "We've got some tough teams going down the stretch and some teams who have their backs against the wall and don't have anything to lose. We know now we have a target on our backs."

That was no more evident than in Week 10 when the then-sub-.500 Houston Texans blindsided the undefeated Bengals with a 10-6 victory on a Monday night. The Texans were out to put a blemish on the Bengals' perfect record and to generate some confidence as they hit the second half of the season. All of that's happened.

Jackson's mission is to prevent having a repeat of that offensive performance so the Bengals no longer get out-turnt.

"This [moment] is when you practice better, play better, you prepare better. Everything becomes better," Jackson said, "because we know what's at stake. That feeling of disappointment is around the corner. You can't wait to get to the other side to start thinking about it. You have to deal with it now and talk about it now. And that's real. A lot of people don't like to say that, but that's a real conversation I try to have with the offense to make them understand what we are trying to accomplish here.

"This is a great time. A lot of people don't get this opportunity. We're in the hunt for a lot of great things. There are some teams that are fighting to get in. We're in the hunt. Now is the time to step on the gas pedal, and you don't let off. We have to go harder."