Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Zach Banner is in uniform and made his season debut Sunday against the Detroit Lions.

Banner had not played in a regular-season game since the 2020 opener, during which he suffered a torn ACL. His rehab hit an apparent setback during this past training camp, and he began the season on injured reserve. Although Banner practiced for three weeks and was promoted to the active roster last month, he had been a healthy scratch for all games since.

Banner did not play on offense at all against the Lions, but he was on the kick protect special-teams unit.

Banner’s promotion was to the detriment of veteran interior offensive lineman B.J. Finney, who was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. That became notable when both of the Steelers’ starting guards left the game because of ankle injuries. J.C. Hassenauer — a center by trade — came in for Kevin Dotson at left guard, and Joe Haeg - the top backup at tackle this season — replaced Turner at right guard.

In addition to the high-profile absences of Ben Roethlisberger and Chase Claypool, the Steelers voluntarily played Sunday’s game without backup running back Anthony McFarland.

McFarland is a healthy scratch for the second consecutive week following his activation from injured reserve because of a knee injury in training camp. Like they did last Monday against the Chicago Bears, the Steelers’ running backs backing up starter Najee Harris on Sunday are Benny Snell Jr. and Kalen Ballage.

It was announced Saturday night that Roethlisberger would miss Sunday’s game because of covid-19 protocols. Claypool has a toe injury that prevented him from practicing all week; the Steelers listed him as out on the league-mandated injury report Friday.

Also inactive for the Steelers were cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon and rookie linebacker Buddy Johnson.

Without Roethlisberger, No. 3 quarterback Dwayne Haskins was in uniform for a Steelers game for the first time. Signed over the offseason, the former Washington first-round pick is the lone backup for Mason Rudolph in the game against the Lions.

Making his second start since Nov. 2019, Rudolph has a depleted wide receivers corps without Claypool and JuJu Smith-Schuster, who had season-ending shoulder surgery last month. To help compensate, the Steelers on Saturday announced they were calling up Steven Sims from the practice squad. Sims played the past two seasons for Washington.

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