This philosophy is so flawed and I can't believe people still stick with it. If you take the ball then don't score you've already given up a massive advantage and made it far more difficult to catch up to it. Even if you do score, you have to be up two scores at the half in order to keep that advantage. Lastly, no one is going to not run the ball just because you scored on the first drive of the game.
On the flipside, if you defer and stop their first drive, you have given yourself a potential to be up 3 scores on that team. Even if you don't realize that potential and start slow, you have the cushion to play catch up with the double dip. It is absolutely insane to not defer the ball.