Norwich slipped to a fourth straight top-flight defeat as Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the table to five points with a slender win at Carrow Road.
Brendan Rodgers' team looked to be coasting to a comfortable victory after going 2-0 up inside the opening 11 minutes through Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez - the Uruguayan's 12th goal in just five appearances against Norwich.
However, the hosts showed remarkable grit and determination in the second half, first reducing the deficit courtesy of Gary Hooper before Robert Snodgrass set up a grandstand finish with a late header after Sterling had restored Liverpool's two-goal cushion.
Norwich could not complete the comeback though, and remain just two points clear of the bottom three.
The Norfolk outfit face a daunting run-in, with fixtures against Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal to come, but Adams is certain they can avoid the drop.
"However many points it's going to take, I don't know," said the 48-year-old.
"There's nine to play for - whether we need three, four, six, nine ... the way results are going, to put a target on it would be foolish.
"But the belief's there that we can get enough points to stay in the division."
Adams went on to reveal that a sub-standard first-half showing from Norwich led to a stern team talk at the interval - and he was thrilled with the attitude of his players after the break.
"I thought it was a phenomenal response to what was potentially a heavy defeat," he added.
"You look at those first 12 or 13 minutes and you're 2-0 down to the team that's top of the table - as we've seen, they've ripped teams apart and gone on and won four, five, six, seven.
"We had to shake them up at half-time. We needed to do more than we showed in the first half.
"I had to say a few things at half-time ... sometimes you have to get the players going, there was a few strong words in there but if it gets that kind of response then that's what I need to do.
"To a man in the second half (it was) a fantastic effort and we were desperately unlucky not to get something from the game."
