>I like Shanahan's thought process of going third and it being
>sudden death at that point.

and his defense to hold the opposing team, so on the third possession it's a tie game and the offense can get to work and win sudden death?

I think the only reason you would receive first is if you *didn't* think your defense could stop anybody -- you score a TD and two-pointer, your defense is horrific so the other team gets the matching score and conversion, then you get the ball back to win

the other option that comes to mind is if the wind conditions were horrible and you picked the side that was way more advantageous to a field goal, but I think that would only come into play if the offenses were not very good