play dead vs play possum

play dead

verb
  • To lie very still, like a corpse. 

  • To act as though defeated while awaiting a chance to attack. 

play possum

verb
  • To feign death; to remain quiet and still to escape attention or remain undetected; to lie low. 

  • To feign sleep, illness, etc. 

How often have the words play dead and play possum occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )