I wasn't really giving this thought till you brought up the blanket analogy. Interesting point, but that could just be the fear in us. If a building is about to collapse on you, you put your hands above your head and close your eyes right before it hits you. I don't know if that's a good comparison. But if you want to be really literal about it, if playing dead was in our nature we would play dead, which I don't think we instinctively do.