Preseason injuries have been devastating to individual teams and to the NFL overall. In the preseason, approximately 15 star players went down due to injuries in meaningless games, and about half of them are done for the year.

This affects more than a team’s overall success—it affects TV ratings, too, which impacts the league’s profits. This year’s opening-weekend ratings took a huge drop, falling for the fourth straight year.

This season’s opening game was a much anticipated matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the defending champions, the New England Patriots. Although it warmed many people’s hearts to see Tom Brady lose 42-27 at home, that game only drew a 12.6 rating (about 22.7 million viewers), which is a huge hit compared to last year’s 16.5 rating, according to ESPN.

Most of the ratings decrease is due to injury, according to “SportsDay News.” When fans see that their favorite players are benched due to injury, it causes many to skip the game. This year’s preseason had the most injuries in the league’s history, with more than 60 players hurt. Although the preseason is meant to showcase young players, established players also get some playing time.

The New York Giants and New England Patriots are both teams that are expected to do very well, but both teams have started off with a loss.

Patriots WR Julian Edelman went down in a preseason game against the Detroit Lions with a torn ACL; he will be out for the rest of the season. His injury is a huge reason the Pats lost their home opener. The Patriots also lost WR Danny Amendola to a concussion during their home opener against Kansas City.

One of the biggest injuries this preseason was Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr., who took a nasty hit and sprained his ankle in a preseason game against Cleveland. Although he should be back by mid-October, the New York Giants were featured in many primetime games early this season, including a Sunday Night Football matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, which they lost 19-3, and a Monday Night Football matchup at home against the Detroit Lions in Week Two, which New York lost 24-10.

The Giants’ offense in the game against Dallas only scored three points without Beckham, and the Giants didn’t even cross the midfield till the second half. The defense did a good job holding the Cowboys to mostly field goals, but it wasn’t enough without their best player on offense. That game’s ratings took a hit compared to last year’s Sunday Night Opener, with only a 13.4 viewer rating (about 24.3 million viewers). Last year’s game had a 14.7 viewer rating, which means this year the game had about 2 million less viewers, according to ESPN.

Because of the increasing injuries, some expect NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to consider new rules on tackling and hitting to make the sport safer. And to get ratings up to make the league more money.